domingo, 8 de agosto de 2010

"Un cuchillo afilado encima de su cabeza ': los juicios y la condena de tres hermanos ecologista en el Tíbet SAMDRUP KARMA (FOTO: YIN RONG) Descargar este informe como un archivo PDF

04 de agosto 2010
 / Campaña Internacional por el Tíbe
SAMDRUP KARMA (FOTO: YIN RONG)

"[En el día de la sentencia Karma Samdrup a 15 años], sus dos abogados chinos di cuenta de que:" El cuchillo afilado ya se había planteado por encima de su cabeza, a punto de caer en un instante "
- Blogpost por Woeser, 25 de junio de 2010.http://woeser.middle-way.net/2010/06/15_25.html
Resumen
Los abogados de Karma Samdrup, un líder ambientalista y filántropo tibetanos condenados a 15 años de prisión el 24 de junio por cargos altamente dudosos de implicación en un caso de 12 años de saqueo de tumbas, se enteró ayer de que su recurso fue rechazado sumariamente el 07 de julio - el mismo día en que el tribunal había recibido el expediente del caso. El tribunal se había olvidado de informar a cualquiera de sus abogados o esposa Karma Samdrup de su decisión.
Karma Samdrup es uno de tres hermanos que están ahora en prisión o bien servir de "reeducación por el trabajo" a raíz de las acusaciones de que se cree que han sido manipuladas después de sus esfuerzos para detener la caza furtiva de especies en peligro de extinción se enfrentaron con las autoridades locales.
Este informe presenta nuevos datos de las TIC y el análisis de las deficiencias legales de los casos. Se incluye la traducción de la documentación clave de idioma chino en relación con los casos, una copia del documento de sentencia completa Karma Samdrup, y un análisis del caso por uno de sus abogados chinos, sin precedentes en su ámbito de aplicación y poner de relieve los esfuerzos de los chinos y los tibetanos directamente desafiar a las autoridades sobre cuestiones jurídicas.
Un joven maestro tibetano Tashi Topgyal, se convirtió en el sexto detenido en relación con los casos de los hermanos cuando desapareció en custodia policial el 05 de julio. Las otras dos personas son Rinche Dorje, un monje y un amigo del Karma Samdrup que había trabajado como su traductor, y Sonam Chonpel, quien el año pasado una petición de dos de los hermanos para ser liberados. Los seis casos son considerados como indicativos de una ofensiva contra la ampliación de la sociedad secular en el Tíbet.
(Namgyal Chime)
el hermano mayor de Karma Samdrup, el ambientalista Rinchen Samdrup, fue condenado el 03 de julio a cinco años. (Véase el informe de las TIC 'gaganarnar tibetana ecologista-Premio a juicio hoy, "03 de julio 2010, http://savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/award-winning-tibetan-environmentalist-trial-today) . Karma Samdrup, que fundó la Snowlands Tres Ríos de Protección Ambiental de Grupo, le dijo al tribunal que había sido gravemente torturado durante su detención. Su hermano con discapacidad Chime Namgyal está cumpliendo 21 meses en un campo de trabajo, y puede ya caminar sin o comer sin ayuda después de haber sido torturado. hermanos 'La madre del resultó herido de gravedad después de que fue golpeado hasta quedar inconsciente por la policía armados que los estaban deteniendo, y 20 aldeanos que solicitó en nombre de los hermanos fueron interrogados y torturados.
Presidente de la International Campaign for Tibet Mary Beth Markey dijo: "Estos casos dan testimonio de la politización del sistema jurídico chino y debe tener un efecto negativo sobre cualquier persona o entidad que solicite comprometer a China en la base de procedimientos basado en normas y acuerdos. Los gobiernos que ven a China como un actor importante en los problemas mundiales, incluidas las cuestiones del medio ambiente, debe tener un análisis detallado de estos casos. Son indicativos de la incapacidad y falta de voluntad de China para proporcionar protección jurídica a cualquier persona que entra en contradicción con los intereses políticos. "
Los tres hermanos fueron aclamados con anterioridad, incluso en los medios de comunicación estatales chinos-como ciudadanos modelo y pilares de su comunidad local, y no hay pruebas de que estaban involucrados en actividades políticas. Su encarcelamiento y la debilidad de las acusaciones contra ellos son indicativas del clima de represión actual y la represión contra la sociedad secular en el Tíbet, en el que las autoridades chinas se están volviendo más agresivos e innovadores en el uso de la ley y los tribunales para servir a fines políticos en lugar de defender la justicia 
El encarcelamiento de los hermanos parece haber sido impulsado por las autoridades Región Autónoma del Tíbet.Los funcionarios en el Tíbet son muy conscientes de resentimiento local desde las protestas que han barrido el Tíbet a partir de marzo, a partir de 2008 y, como resultado, un patrón que parece emerger de tratar a los individuos el silencio que están bien educados e influyentes en sus comunidades, posiblemente porque esas personas tienen la posibilidad de representar una alternativa - y por lo tanto potencialmente subversivas, desde una perspectiva oficial - polo de autoridad al gobierno y las estructuras del Partido.
(Samdrup Rinchen)
Como resultado de su detención, se ha producido un impacto negativo sobre el trabajo de conservación del medio ambiente en la zona de origen de los tres hermanos. Liderados por Rinchen Samdrup, cientos de aldeanos habían participado en la colección de basura, control de caza ilegal, y la plantación de cientos de miles de árboles. pueblo de los hermanos se encuentra en la cuenca del río Yangtsé, para los conservacionistas chinos consideran que la plantación de árboles que no sólo es esencial para el medio ambiente local, sino también para la protección de las aguas y el suelo en los tramos superiores del Yangtse. Con la detención de Rinchen Samdrup y ahora Tashi Topgyal, uno de los tibetanos mejor educados en la comunidad local, el trabajo ya no es continua y locales tibetanos en la zona se dice que están asustados e intimidados.
El caso contra Karma Samdrup también ha sido excepcional porque es la primera vez que se ha producido la cobertura mediática internacional de la prueba de un prominente Tibet antes de que el veredicto fue entregado oficialmente abajo. Esta cobertura fue posible gracias a los abogados chinos Samdrup Karma y su esposa, Dolkar Tso, hacer pública la información en los blogs que han sido clausurados por las autoridades. En un blog escrito un día después de que su marido la condena a 15 años, Dolkar Tso dice que desea expresar su profundo agradecimiento a los dos abogados chinos que lo defendían. Ella escribió: "Estamos luchando por la verdad y la justicia juntos, no importa si son chinos o tibetanos. [...] Agradezco a estos dos abogados, doy las gracias a todos sus amigos de todas las nacionalidades, y desde el principio hasta el final, no me he sentido sola. "(Enlace incrustar: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/06/ Dolkar-tso-gracias-karma-samdru ...).
Los detalles de las personas detenidas
  • Karma Samdrup, de 42 años, un conocido filántropo y fundador de la Snowlands Tres Ríos Grupo de Protección del Medio Ambiente. Fue condenado a 15 años de prisión el 24 de junio por cargos relacionados con un incidente de saqueo de tumbas en 1998, y por los que fue absuelto de toda sospecha de malas prácticas en el momento. Durante el juicio, que fue tildada de "una falsificación completa" por su abogado, Karma Samdrup describe en detalle las torturas que había sufrido en prisión preventiva antes, pero el juez desestimó su testimonio como "irrelevante". [Véase el informe de las TIC ' Los temores por tres hermanos ecologista como "flaco" Karma Samdrup a juicio después de la tortura ", 24 de junio 2010,http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/fears-three-environmentalist-brothers- E2% 80% 98gaunt%% E2% 80% 99-karma-Samdrup al juicio después de la tortura]
  • Chime Namgyal, de 38 años, el hermano del Karma y Samdrup Rinchen. Él comenzó a cumplir una pena de 21 meses en un campo de trabajo en agosto de 2009 por cargos que, según su documento de la sentencia, incluyó recopilar información sobre el entorno local. Como resultado de haber sido torturado, ya no puede caminar o comer sin ayuda. Cuando Chime Namgyal y Samdrup Rinchen fueron detenidos el 07 de agosto 2009, su anciana madre fue golpeado hasta quedar inconsciente por la policía.
  • Tashi Topgyal (transliteración china: Zhaxi Duojia), quien fue detenido alrededor de una docena de policías en un ataque en el lugar en el que se alojaba en Lhasa el 05 de julio, es un nivel de educación de profesores de lenguas tibetano-bien desde el mismo pueblo que Rinchen Samdrup, a saber, Zirong Village en Gonjo (Chino: Gongjue) del Condado, en Chamdo (Chino: Changdu) en la Prefectura de la Región Autónoma de Tíbet.[1] También participó en protección del medio ambiente de trabajo de Samdrup Rinchen. Él había estado visitando la capital con el fin de averiguar el paradero de otro tibetanos detenidos en relación con el caso de los tres hermanos, Rinchen Dorje.
  • Rinchen Dorje, traductor chino, Karma Samdrup de 12 años atrás, cuando la realización de negocios en el norte de Xinjiang Región Autónoma Uigur del Tíbet, se encuentra desaparecido desde marzo de 2010 y se cree que es detenido.
  • Sonam Chonpel, que es de unos sesenta años, un primo de los tres hermanos, está cumpliendo 18 meses en una "reeducación por el trabajo" campamento.
La madre de los tres hermanos, que está en su mediados de los setenta, resultó gravemente herido y tratado en el hospital después de haber sido golpeado hasta quedar inconsciente cuando la policía armados detuvieron a dos de sus hijos desde su casa el 7 de agosto del año pasado, de acuerdo con nueva información de la zona. Las mismas fuentes dicen que ella perdió el conocimiento por varias horas y trasladado al hospital de Yushu en la vecina provincia de Qinghai por los familiares, donde tenía que someterse a una operación. Los oficiales de policía que golpeó fueron conducidos por la Prefectura de Chamdo Adjunto Secretario del Partido, Chen Yue, quien se cree que es todavía en la misma posición.
Veinte habitantes del condado de Gonjo en Chamdo, el área de los hermanos en casa, fueron detenidos en Chamdo, interrogado y torturado durante 40 días después de que fue a Beijing a apelar contra la detención de los hermanos.
ICT recomienda:
  • Los cargos contra Karma Samdrup, Rinchen Samdrup, que cumple cinco años, y su hermano con discapacidad Chime Namgyal, demuestran graves violaciónes de la propia China Código de Procedimiento Penal y debe abandonarse.
  • También debe haber una explicación completa sobre el paradero y el bienestar de los tibetanos detenidos y "desaparecidos" en conexión con este caso, incluyendo Rinchen Tashi Dorje y Topgyal.
  • Las seis personas que figuran en este informe se debe permitir el acceso sin restricciones a un abogado de su elección, acceso adecuado a los miembros de la familia, y acceso a atención médica adecuada para aquellos que lo necesitan.
  • Debe haber una investigación urgente de las autoridades chinas de las graves denuncias de tortura y detallada del Karma Samdrup, Samdrup Rinchen Namgyal y Timbre a la luz de los reglamentos anunció en junio la prohibición de la admisión de confesiones obtenidas mediante tortura. El gobierno chino debe cumplir con sus obligaciones como Estado Parte en la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre la Tortura para garantizar que los perpetradores de la tortura son plenamente responsables y que se adopten medidas eficaces contra cualquier situación aún más de la tortura.
  • gobiernos Internacional urgente que plantea serias preocupaciones sobre la importancia del trabajo de los tres hermanos del medio ambiente, que está en los intereses de China, así como del Tíbet, tras haberse demostrado que los esfuerzos esenciales de conservación en la zona han sufrido a consecuencia de su detención.
Nota
1 El área Chamdo ha sido objeto de severas restricciones sobre todo desde marzo de 2008. El gobierno chino considera Chamdo como "un puente estratégico entre la región autónoma de Tíbet y las provincias vecinas de Sichuan, Yunnan y Qinghai." (Tibet Daily, 17 de abril). La región ha tenido una importancia estratégica particular a Beijing ya que las autoridades comunistas obtuvieron el control del centro de Tíbet cuando Chamdo, la capital provincial del Tíbet oriental, cayó de Liberación del Pueblo del Ejército el 7 de octubre de 1950. Las autoridades chinas se conmemorará el 60 aniversario de la "Chamdo liberación" a finales de este año. TIC 'Determinación Ver informe para resistir la represión continúa en "listas para el combate" Chamdo, primera línea de la "educación patriótica", 02 de diciembre 2009, www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/determination-resist-repression- -continúa-'combat ready'-Chamdo-primera línea-la educación patriótica. 
El asunto "injusta" contra el Karma Samdrup
"Sólo cuando estaba allí [en el tribunal], de espaldas a nosotros, y empezó a hablar, la tristeza de todo el mundo sólo derramó.Todos vez cerrado los ojos, no quería mirar a esta sombra fría, sólo queríamos escuchar la voz de este modo muy familiar - sólo que esta era realmente él, sólo que esta muy logrado convertir esa sombra pobres y frágiles en la persona nos acordamos. [...] Yo nunca pensó que sus pómulos podría ser tan altos, por lo que su barbilla puntiaguda, con los brazos tan flacos, que no queda nada de su olla de vientre. Y hasta nos dice que en los últimos 20 días que ya había recuperado un poco, había comenzado a comer con regularidad y no tiene que sufrir malos tratos nunca más. [Pero] la cuenta nos enteramos después, superado nuestras peores imaginaciones, nos enteramos de cientos de diferentes métodos crueles torturas, malos tratos durante todo el día, hasta ahora desconocido de instrumentos de tortura y las drogas, las tácticas duras y blandas, e incluso de compañeros de prisión que se agrupan para obtener una confesión. Si no reveló ciertos detalles que sería mentalmente atormentado. Si quería comer o ir al baño tenía que escribir un "IOU", un reconocimiento de deuda ", que ya ha ascendido a 660.000 RMB. El "adquiridos" primer alimento sería aplastado por la gente que usa sus pies, no habría golpes sin razón, este era común y se produjeron demasiadas veces para contar. Dijo con voz triste que él ya había preparado para la muerte y que había escrito una carta para decirle a su familia qué hacer. Dos intérpretes ancianos tenían los ojos rojos y empezó a llorar amargamente. El abogado también casi se echó a llorar. "
Blogpost titulada «La oración" por la esposa de Samdrup Karma, Dolkar Tso, publicada el 23 de junio sobre el juicio de su marido. Traducido al Inglés por el Alto Picos Pura Tierra,http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/06/praying-blogpost-by-dolkar-tso ...
 Karma Samdrup, un empresario de 42 años, coleccionista conocido del arte tibetano y fundador de la galardonada Snowlands Tres Ríos Grupo de Protección del Medio Ambiente, fue condenado a 15 años por un tribunal de Xinjiang el mes pasado. Fue detenido el 07 de enero 2010 después de infructuosos esfuerzos para lograr la liberación de sus dos hermanos, Chime Namgyal y Samdrup Rinchen, que fueron detenidos el 7 de agosto de 2009 después de sus esfuerzos por conservar la vida silvestre se enfrentaron con las autoridades locales (véase más adelante).
En una comunicación de Twitter tras la celebración de Samdrup el juicio Karma el 24 de junio, su abogado, Pu Zhiqiang, informó: "Karma Samdrup 15 frase año, cinco políticos la privación de derechos año, 10K RMB multa EE.UU. [$ 1.500]." El tribunal de Xinjiang encontrado Karma Samdrup culpable de lo que se consideran en marcha falsas acusaciones de haber participado en la excavación y robando tumbas antiguas - similar a los cargos trae inicialmente y se deja caer en 1998. Zhiqiang Twitter cuenta Pu desde entonces ha sido bloqueada. (Detalles en el informe de Reporteros Sin Fronteras http://en.rsf.org/china-authorities-turn-their-sights-on-16-07-2010, 37971.html).
Bhuchung Tsering, vicepresidente de TIC para Programas Especiales, escribió: "El abogado Pu Zhiqiang (específicamente por su origen) simboliza la nueva China que la comunidad internacional quiere ver, una China, donde todos, ya sean tibetano, chino, o cualquier otra persona son todos iguales. En los últimos años hemos visto los estudiosos chinos étnicos más y mirando a los abogados del pueblo tibetano a través de un nuevo prisma que es positivo e incluyente. Este es un acontecimiento positivo para la propia China y futuro a largo plazo. Dolkar Tso, la indomable esposa Samdrup Karma, está luchando contra un sistema que, políticamente, las reclamaciones a los tibetanos a ser mucho parte de la nación, pero no se dignó a tratarlas por igual. Se ha planteado la búsqueda de los derechos civiles tibetanos en China a un nuevo nivel. "(Blogpost TIC,http://weblog.savetibet.org/2010/06/29/a-tibetan%% E2% 80-99s-en la perspectiva y dos personalidades-en-el-caso--karma Samdrup /).
La resurrección de un cargo de una década, parece indicar que no hay otras pruebas, tales como la posesión de una fotografía del Dalai Lama o el otro artículo de cargo, se encontró a la sentencia Karma Samdrup a un largo período en prisión. El hecho de que el documento de la sentencia de nueve páginas se publicó casi tan pronto como los procedimientos judiciales terminado alimentado las sospechas entre los observadores que el documento había sido elaborado en gran medida mucho antes del veredicto y la sentencia se anunciaron en la corte.
"Creo que de procedimiento, este caso todo es una farsa completa", dijo el abogado Pu Zhiqiang, en declaraciones a una revista de noticias publicadas fuera de Hong Kong, Asia semanal ("El-el-misterio detrás de las escenas en el caso de injusta contra un líder tibetano ecologista 'de Zhang Jieping, Asia Semanal núm. 24, Número 28, 18 de julio de 2010).[2] El periodista, Zhang Jieping, resume el caso de la siguiente manera: "Un año de edad de casos y 12 del saqueo de tumbas en contra de la ambientalista tibetana Karma Samdrup ha vuelto a abrir. En el momento en que fue declarado inocente y puesto en libertad, pero ahora fue condenado a 15 años de prisión. Algunos de acusación los elementos de prueba fue obtenida mediante tortura, y hay alteraciones y firmas adicionales a la práctica totalidad del registro. El documento de la sentencia está llena de errores, y los abogados defensores y Pu Zhiqiang Huiqing Li están decididos a apelar. "El escritor Zhang Jieping añade que los abogados estaban" sin palabras "por el número de errores en el documento de la sentencia.
Según el mismo artículo, Pu Zhiqiang presentado documentos Karma Samdrup de apelación el 03 de julio - el mismo día que su hermano Rinchen Samdrup fue condenado a cinco años de prisión en Chamdo. Sin embargo, se descubrió más tarde que el recurso fue rechazado de inmediato. Pu Zhiqiang colocado una pieza en su blog el 02 de agosto 2010 en la que informaba que el recurso Karma Samdrup fue recibido por el tribunal de apelación el 7 de julio, y rechazado en el mismo día. Un juez en la corte de los informes, le dijo que "no hubo necesidad de considerar el caso". En declaraciones a la agencia Associated Press, Pu dijo: "Yo no sé por qué están en un tanta prisa. ¿Qué tienen miedo? ¿Qué están tratando de ocultar? "(" Tribunal rechaza apelación de ecologista tibetano, "AP, 02 de agosto 2010.) De acuerdo con su documento de condena, Karma Samdrup no se debe a ser puesto en libertad hasta el 19 de noviembre 2024.
Nota
2 Asia Semanal es una revista semanal de noticias publicadas fuera de Hong Kong. En su página web, afirma que fue la primera en idioma Chino-temas de actualidad mundial semanal en el mundo, y que ofrece "las últimas noticias e información de la región y el resto del mundo para el chino élites sociales, la presentación de informes y análisis de los noticias en el lenguaje y con los valores familiares para los chinos ". www.yzzk.com.
deficiencias legales en el caso contra Karma Samdrup
Pu Zhiqiang, abogado Karma Samdrup desde las oficinas de Huayi Ley en Beijing, ha sido coherente en su crítica a la manipulación de las autoridades chinas de la causa contra Karma Samdrup en sus escritos propio blog y en las entrevistas que ha dado a las RAE de Hong Kong y otras organizaciones internacionales medios de comunicación. En declaraciones recogidas por el New York Times, dijo: "El tribunal ignoró completamente los hechos, pisoteado en el sistema jurídico y atentaba contra la humanidad Karma." ('Tibetano recibe Ambientalista sentencia de 15 años,' New York Times, 24 de junio de 2010).
A pesar de los numerosos defectos muy graves en el caso contra Karma Samdrup en particular, cabe señalar que el violaciónes distintas gestiones se describen a continuación no son exclusivos de este caso, y puede ser caracterizado como de rutina en los casos en que los intereses del partido - o de hecho los intereses personales de partido y funcionarios del gobierno - se impugnan.
documento Karma Samdrup de la sentencia (véase más adelante), como con los documentos de sentencia emitida por toda la República Popular de China, no se destina principalmente como un relato o una transcripción de su juicio tal como ocurrieron, sino que muestra de forma muy selectiva en lugar de los procesos de deliberación utilizados por la corte para llegar al veredicto y la sentencia. Karma Samdrup documento de la sentencia revela que la calidad y cantidad de las pruebas utilizadas para condenarlo era muy deficiente, incluso para los niveles bajos de las pruebas exigidas por los tribunales chinos en comparación con las normas internacionales de juicio justo. Y cuando el documento de sentencia se lee en conjunción con otros documentos a disposición del público desde el juicio, así como comentarios sobre el caso de los abogados defensores Karma Samdrup, la conclusión ineludible es que el Karma Samdrup se enfrenta a uno de los casos mejor documentados de la injusticia y judicial la corrupción que han surgido en China en los últimos años.
Las irregularidades discutido por Pu Zhiqiang incluyen el hecho de que un órgano del Partido (la Política de Xinjiang y de la Comisión de Derecho) recomendó que el caso contra Karma Samdrup se abra de nuevo, cuando es sólo la policía, fiscalía y los tribunales que están autorizados para iniciar tales procedimientos ( el juez reprendió Pu en los tribunales cuando hizo este punto, afirmando que no era pertinente a los procedimientos); Karma Samdrup fue negado el acceso para ver a sus abogados - o la familia - durante los seis meses de prisión preventiva, y durante los cuales fue grave y sistemáticamente torturados; los abogados fueron informados el 27 de mayo que el juicio comenzaría el 01 de junio, dejándolos sólo cuatro días para preparar su defensa, para lo cual su acceso a los expedientes del caso eran muy limitadas (el juicio se aplazó posteriormente); los abogados sólo se les permitió reunirse con Karma Samdrup durante 30 minutos el día antes del juicio en una reunión de vídeo grabadas por la policía y las pruebas que se adulterados, con Pu Zhiqiang observando en la corte que las declaraciones de testigos, supuestamente de hace 12 años eran evidentemente firmado con la pluma igual que los documentos firmados días antes, no hay testigos comparecieron ante el tribunal, y al menos uno de los testigos cuyo testimonio sirvió para condenar a Karma Samdrup todavía puede estar en la cárcel, plantea una seria amenaza su testimonio siendo extorsionados mediante tortura u otros incentivos; y uno de los jueces fue entregado en varias ocasiones notas escritas de una fuente desconocida durante los dos primeros días del juicio, y cuando se le preguntó si Pu el juez recibía instrucciones, las notas dejaron de venir, pero el juez luego recibió numerosos mensajes de texted a su teléfono móvil . Además, el hecho de que el documento de sentencia de nueve páginas se publicó casi tan pronto como los procedimientos judiciales terminado confirmó las sospechas entre los observadores que el documento había sido elaborado en gran medida mucho antes del veredicto y la sentencia se anunciaron en la corte.
En su blogpost "Orar" en la que también cuenta cómo Karma Samdrup describe en detalle las torturas que sufrió en prisión preventiva, Dolkar Tso escribió acerca de los acontecimientos del 22 de junio en la sala, un día antes de la sentencia se dictó: "Durante el juicio por la tarde, la presentación de pruebas y traducciones es un proceso sin fin, interminable, pero extraordinario. Todas las pruebas de que era "dejar a un lado temporalmente, a mi entender, contiene muchas lagunas y contradicciones. Incluso los abogados parecía pensar que gran parte es ilegal en los procedimientos y criaron a sus dudas. Fue una pena que el [jurado] los desechó como "no relacionados con el tema correspondiente o el dicho que" esto ya ha sido aclarado ".
En el mismo día que la sentencia Karma Samdrup, las autoridades chinas informaron de dos nuevas disposiciones legales destinadas a excluir las pruebas obtenidas mediante tortura ("la prohibición de la tortura Nuevo reglamento de confesiones", Xinhua, 24 de junio de 2010). Si bien una de las medidas se centra en la exclusión de confesiones obtenidas mediante tortura en casos de pena capital sólo, el segundo permite una audiencia previa al juicio en que un acusado que ha sido torturado puede poner en duda la legalidad de las pruebas contra él o ella, y el enjuiciamiento del entonces tiene que Los registros proporcionan para demostrar que todas las pruebas fue adquirido legalmente. Sin embargo, el tribunal desestimó la demanda por completo Karma Samdrup de que fue torturado, diciendo que no había "pruebas adicionales sólida y amplia que se puede utilizar como base para decidir en este caso," de acuerdo con su documento de la sentencia.
Existen disposiciones en la ley china que otorgan los poderes de policía para negar los acusados cuentan con representación legal antes de la formal prisión, si se decide que el caso involucra a "secretos de Estado", y que la seguridad nacional de China podría verse comprometida si la evidencia sensible es compartida o discutida en la audiencia pública. Esta disposición se utiliza con frecuencia contra personas sospechosas de disidencia política y enfrenta cargos de "subversión del poder del Estado" o "incitación a dividir a la nación". Sin embargo, los cargos contra Karma Samdrup surgió únicamente de las acusaciones de implicación en el robo de artículos de una tumba en 1998. En ningún momento las autoridades intente hacer ningún tales "legítima" ruta debido a "secretos de Estado" con el fin de limitar su acceso a un abogado.
Efectivamente, si el Código Procesal Penal de la República Popular de China ha respetado por las autoridades chinas, Karma Samdrup habría sido informado de su derecho a contratar a un abogado, el abogado entonces han sido capaces de "conocer y corresponden» con Karma Samdrup en custodia, y el abogado habría tenido un acceso pleno y sin restricciones a todas las pruebas en su contra Karma Samdrup.
Una de las irregularidades más graves en el manejo de las autoridades del caso Karma Samdrup fue un intento de limitar Pu Zhiqiang y el acceso Li Huiqing de pruebas. Pu Zhiqiang descrito en un anuncio en su blog (ver más abajo) cómo el 27 de mayo, Li Huiqing fue a Yanqi la Corte del Condado - la corte donde Karma Samdrup se debió a ser juzgado - para obtener copias de las pruebas de cargo con el fin de empezar a preparar el caso de la defensa, según el procedimiento habitual. Li hizo las copias de unas 70 páginas de pruebas de los autos y los estaba estudiando de nuevo en su habitación de hotel cuando un hombre se introduce como Ma Zenghua llamó a su puerta, y explicando que era de la Corte del Condado Yanqi pidió ver los documentos Li había copiado, alegando que quería señalar algunas imprecisiones en los mismos. El juez se negó a devolver las copias de los documentos, diciendo que "esta fue una decisión de los líderes," y que "porque el caso era sensible" no podía permitir que el archivo que desea copiar. Si Li Huiqing quería ver el archivo, explicó Ma, que tendría que ir a la corte a tomar resúmenes a mano. Ma Zenghua aparece en el documento de condena como uno de los tres jueces que presidió el caso en los tribunales.
Una pieza clave de evidencia a partir de 1998 que exoneró Karma Samdrup de toda culpa en el caso fue desestimado por la fiscalía, según el relato de blogs Pu Zhiqiang de procedimiento y una entrevista que concedió a Asia Weekly. El documento, que detalla el proceso de investigar y detener a Karma Samdrup y varias otras personas implicadas en el caso, fue redactado por los tres agentes de policía que investigó el robo de los artefactos de la tumba protegida en 1998, y que concluyó en el documento que el Karma Samdrup participación no constituía un delito. Karma Samdrup fue puesto en libertad bajo fianza en consecuencia, y fue oficialmente ya no se considera como sospechoso en el caso de que su fianza se permite que expiren. Sin embargo, el fiscal principal del caso en junio de 2010, la Sra. Kuang Ying, al parecer, argumentó con éxito que este documento era inadmisible en los tribunales debido a que no lleve el sello oficial y por lo tanto, sólo puede considerarse como la opinión de los policías personales.
cargo de la fiscalía contra el Karma Samdrup - y el delito por el que el tribunal lo declaró culpable - se cita en el documento de la sentencia que el artículo 328, inciso 1, del artículo 1 de la Ley Penal de la República Popular de China: "excavación y el robo de un sitio de cultura antigua o la tumba antigua que ha sido designada como un sitio importante que se protejan en el ámbito nacional o provincial, por su valor histórico y cultural. "
Sin embargo, cuando Karma Samdrup fue detenido por primera vez en 1998 en relación con el caso, se sospechaba sólo de vender los objetos que habían sido robados en el sitio tumba en una región desértica de la Región Autónoma Uigur de Xinjiang. Los cargos contra Karma Samdrup en junio de 2010 lo acusó no sólo de "excavación y el robo de un sitio de la cultura antigua o antigua tumba", pero también acusado de que "organizó y dirigió" los robos en el lugar de la tumba, y que él "instigado a otros "para llevar a cabo los robos, todo lo cual aparece a partir de testimonios de las personas que llevaron a cabo los robos, que aún pueden encontrarse en la cárcel o bajo otras formas de coacción de las autoridades.
La alegación de que Karma Samdrup "alentó y dio instrucciones a" las personas que llevaron a cabo el primer robo en el lugar de la tumba para volver a robar las cosas a la era crucial en la implicación Karma Samdrup como cómplices en el robo original, e instrumentales en el segundo robo. Sin embargo, sólo Abliz Kerim, quien fue encarcelado en 1998 para llevar a cabo el robo, afirmó en su testimonio haber sido informado por Karma Samdrup para llevar a cabo un segundo robo en el sitio. Otros testigos también fueron encarcelados por su participación en el mismo caso, y dijo en su testimonio único que habían oído hablar de Karim Abliz su conversación con el Karma Samdrup, y no que ellos mismos habían oído Karma Samdrup pedir Abliz Karim para volver al sitio de la tumba y robar más elementos.
Pu Zhiqiang dijo Asia Weekly: "Es un hecho que una gran cantidad de artefactos culturales han sido robados de Xinjiang, y que hay una urgente necesidad de castigar a las personas conforme a la ley que roban de las tumbas de Xinjiang. Pero no hay duda ninguna necesidad de las autoridades para arrastrar un caso desde hace más de 10 años y se ha esforzado mucho en ir a Beijing y luego Chengdu para detener a un hombre tibetano, y movilizar tantos recursos en el caso - es que realmente vale la pena ? [...] No hay una explicación que dice que la mala suerte Karma aquí era porque él estaba detrás de las peticiones masivas [para liberar a sus hermanos] en su área principal de Gonjo Condado en el Tíbet. [Los aldeanos en el condado de Gonjo presentaron una petición a las autoridades expresaban su preocupación por las detenciones de Rinchen Samdrup y Chime Namgyal]. Pero creo que la policía estaba un poco ciego en éste cuando fueron aportando pruebas. [...] Yo siempre un cuerpo de evidencia de que esta desvirtuada, incluyendo una carta de Karma Samdrup a los peticionarios en Zirong Pueblo instando a todos a confiar en el gobierno y confiar en el Partido, y que el secretario Wang se debe dar el espacio para resolver los problemas . "
El abogado Li dijo Huiqing Asia Weekly: "La impresión que tuve durante los tres días [de la] juicio fue que se nos permitió decir lo que quería decir, y dijo que mucho, pero ninguna de las solicitudes y peticiones que hicimos de conformidad con la ley con el apoyo de la corte. Por ejemplo, un examen de si las pruebas eran legítimos?Testigos núm debe testificar en la corte? No. Ellos ni siquiera respondió a las preguntas clave y rechazó todas nuestras aplicaciones. Se solicitó un proceso de revisión de la prueba ilícita en marcha, pero al final se rozó apenas a un lado. Por último, la Fiscalía presentó un expediente que demuestre que el personal de investigación no había extorsionado a una confesión mediante tortura, pero era tal la negación inepto y torpe que había sido preparado de antemano que ascendió a un reconocimiento de las confesiones habían sido obtenidas mediante tortura en realidad ".
Rinchen Samdrup: juicio y la sentencia
Fuentes cercanas a los tibetanos en el área creen que el caso contra Rinchen Samdrup parece haber sido impulsado por las autoridades Región Autónoma del Tíbet después de los funcionarios locales del Partido y funcionarios de policía se opuso a la injerencia en sus territorios de caza de animales en peligro de extinción en la zona de origen Rinchen Samdrup de Gonjo Condado Chamdo Prefectura.
Según fuentes tibetanas, las únicas pruebas presentadas contra Rinchen Samdrup en el tribunal durante el juicio el 3 de julio, y que resultó en su condena de cinco años, era una referencia indirecta al Dalai Lama en un sitio web que había corrido en la línea: "La gente dice que los tibetanos son bárbaros y atrasados, pero uno de ellos ganó un Premio Nobel." Este se caracterizó por el tribunal como "incitación a dividir a la nación". Las mismas fuentes tibetano Rinchen dijo que Samdrup ni siquiera escribir el artículo en que se trate; otra fuente afirma que ni siquiera publicar el artículo en el sitio, aunque esto no ha sido corroborada por otras fuentes.
En el clima de represión actual, cuando la retórica oficial contra el Dalai Lama se ha endurecido, que citan Dalai Lama el nombre o el mantenimiento de su fotografía se ha convertido en más peligroso. Como en este caso, las autoridades pueden definir casi cualquier cosa como una incitación al "separatismo".[3] El hecho de que las acusaciones parecían basarse en esta frase, ni siquiera citan el Dalai Lama por su nombre, tanto pone de relieve la debilidad del asunto e indica que los funcionarios TAR confiaban en que las autoridades centrales no pondría en entredicho el veredicto.
juicio Rinchen Samdrup el 3 de julio duró menos de dos horas, y de acuerdo con una fuente "todo parecía predeterminado." La misma fuente añadió que Rinchen Samdrup se detuvo de hablar en un momento en que parecía estar a punto de hablar de sus tratos a los detenidos . En el aspecto físico, había perdido peso y parecía estar en el dolor.
En un blog sobre el trabajo de Samdrup Rinchen para proteger la cultura tibetana y el medio ambiente, la Woeser escritor tibetano dijo que durante un período de una década hizo un gran esfuerzo para preservar los textos religiosos (blog traducida al Inglés por el Alto Picos Pura Tierra http://www .highpeakspureearth.com/2010/07/rinchen-samdrup-sentenced-to-5 ...).
Woeser escribió: "Rinchen Samdrup es un ex monje, incluso ahora un creyente devoto y practicante, familiarizado con el budismo y la medicina tibetana y el único médico en la aldea local. También es un talentoso artista popular, poeta, pintor thangka, constructor de estupas, grabador bordo manuscrito, todo lo cual es bueno. Repartidas en el suelo son las páginas de los principales logros del gran maestro del budismo tibetano Changchup Dorje, el fundador del Templo Nyangla, incluyendo los textos budistas y tibetanos médica, debido al paso del tiempo, muchas están dañadas y sólo la mitad están aún vigentes con sido destruidos durante la Revolución Cultural. En los últimos 10 años, Rinchen Samdrup sacudido los sesos y trató por todos los medios para salvarlos. Durante un viaje a Lhasa, vio a un equipo y se puso muy excitado, él se quedó en Lhasa para aprender habilidades de la computadora con la esperanza de que pudiera entrar en las escrituras en el ordenador y conservarlos para siempre. "
Woeser escribió en el mismo blog que ha oído que la policía confiscó todos los discos de su ordenador e incluso los han destruido.
Un artículo detallado por el chino Feng periodista ambiental Yongfeng alabanzas Rinchen Samdrup por su trabajo ambiental, diciendo lo útil que es para el gobierno tiene como objetivo el de protección ecológica. El artículo, extraen a continuación (traducido al Inglés en su totalidad por las TIC http://savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/award-winning-tibetan-environmentalist-trial-today) apareció en el diario oficial China Noticias de Medio Ambiente dirigido por el Ministerio de Protección del Medio Ambiente a principios de febrero de 2010, casi exactamente seis meses después de Rinchen Samdrup fue detenido en agosto de 2009. versiones más cortas del mismo artículo apareció un mes más o menos antes de la oficial Diario del Pueblo y los sitios web ChinaTibetNews. No se sabe si el arresto Samdrup Rinchen era conocido en su momento por los funcionarios que ha publicado el artículo, o si esto indica una diferencia en las percepciones del caso en la Región Autónoma del Tíbet y Beijing.
Nota
3 Un funcionario de la corte en Shigatse en el TAR fue citado diciendo en 2005 que las autoridades encarcelar a personas por posesión de una fotografía del Dalai Lama, si lo consideran como "separatistas". 'RFA Véase: tres tibetanos, previamente desconocido, sentenciado por el Dalai Lama Fotos, Enseñanzas, "septiembre 2005 CECC Newsletter, http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsingle=21714
Los documentos y traducciones
Las TIC se ha traducido y analizado los documentos en este informe, incluyendo las siguientes:
  • Información sobre las seis detenciones en este caso, incluido el profesor Tashi Topgyal y detalles de otras personas afectadas, incluida la madre de los hermanos, quien fue golpeado hasta quedar inconsciente cuando la policía armados detuvieron a dos de sus hijos durante una redada en la casa familiar.
  • Los nuevos detalles sobre el juicio Rinchen Samdrup y sus antecedentes personales;
  • La primera traducción al Inglés del documento condena Karma Samdrup y detalles importantes sobre el caso por los abogados de Karma Samdrup, Pu Zhiqiang y Huiqing Li. El caso revela graves violaciónes de Derecho Penal de China Procedimiento, analizados en este informe. micro Pu Zhiqiang de-blogging (Twitter), emplazamiento en el que anunció la noticia de que el veredicto contra el Karma Samdrup, fue cerrada el 15 de julio, y su blog personal se cerró por 12 ª vez en su carrera;
  • Dos cartas a la corte por los abogados Karma Samdrup, expresando preocupaciones acerca de los fracasos en los procedimientos legales;
  • Una reveladora entrevista con el 18 de julio Karma Samdrup los abogados de Asia Weekly, una de las principales noticias revista de Hong Kong;
  • El documento sentencia que detalla los cargos en contra del timbre Namgyal y la educación de su 21-meses de volver a por el trabajo "la pena;
  • Un artículo de un periodista chino sobre la labor innovadora Rinchen Samdrup en la protección del medio ambiente, publicados en los medios estatales chinos, incluso después de su detención;
  • Traducciones al Inglés de los blogs por el conocido escritor tibetano Woeser y la esposa de Karma Samdrup Dolkar Tso;
  • Extractos de un nuevo libro sobre el medio ambiente del Tíbet titulada "Celestial perlas 'con profusión de detalles sobre la vida Karma Samdrup, y su hermano Rinchen Samdrup.
Karma Samdrup caso de
Karma Samdrup documento de condena
El siguiente documento, traducido por las TIC, es el documento Karma Samdrup de la sentencia. El documento original es de nueve páginas y fue emitido momentos después de que el juicio concluyó, levantando las sospechas de que había sido preparado - junto con el veredicto y la sentencia - mucho antes de que el juicio había concluido.
Yanqi Hui Tribunal Popular Autónoma del Condado
Región Autónoma Uigur de Xinjiang 
Documento Penal de Sentencias
[Uigur y sello chino: Copiar]
(2010) Yanqi Doc. N º 61
Fiscal de órganos, Fiscalía Yanqi Autónoma Hui de personas del condado de
Demandada rukai Gama Sangzhu [Ruka Karma Samdrup], macho, nacido el 08 de mayo 1968, ID N º 542123196805080015, tibetano, un nivel de estudios de primaria, de Maidong Villa, Municipio de Xiangpi, Condado de Gongjue, Región Autónoma del Tíbet; empresario privado; reside en n º 8, Unidad 1, Bloque 19 Xiaojiahe Xingrong Street, distrito Wuhou, ciudad de Chengdu, provincia de Sichuan. El 18 de marzo de 1998, tomado en detención por parte de la Prefectura de Ba [Bayingguoleng Prefectura Autónoma de Mongolia] Oficina de Seguridad Pública bajo la sospecha de haber cometido el delito de reventa de reliquias culturales, el 29 de abril del mismo año, la libertad bajo fianza en espera del juicio [qubao houshen] se le concedió ; el 30 de noviembre, fue llevado otra vez a detención penal; el 7 de diciembre, la libertad bajo fianza mientras esperan el juicio fue concedida, y el 6 de diciembre de 1999, la libertad bajo fianza mientras esperan el juicio fue cancelado.El 7 de enero de 2010, fue nuevamente puesta en detención penal por el Condado de Nuoqiang Oficina de Seguridad Pública bajo la sospecha de haber cometido el delito de reventa de reliquias culturales, y el 8 de febrero del mismo año fue arrestado de acuerdo a la ley. Actualmente se encuentra detenido en el Yanqi Autónoma Hui de Detención del Condado de Centro.
Abogado de Defensa Pu Zhiqiang, un abogado de Beijing Huayi Oficinas Legales
Abogado de Defensa Li Huiqing, un abogado de Beijing Huayi Oficinas Legales
Por medio de Enjuiciamiento Criminal Yanqi Suit (2010) N º 62 [sic], la Fiscalía Yanqi Autónoma Hui de personas del condado de la parte demandada acusa Ruka Karma Samdrup por el delito de saqueo de tumbas, y presentó su demanda ante este tribunal el 21 de mayo de 2010. Este tribunal colegiado convocó a un panel de jueces, de conformidad con la ley y trató el caso en audiencia pública y el público. fiscales Yanqi Autónoma Hui de personas del condado de representante de Fiscalía Kuang Ying y Chaohong Yang apareció en el tribunal para apoyar la demanda pública, el acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup y sus abogados defensores Pu Zhiqiang y Huiqing Li, y sus traductores Bugeduo [Bu Kardor] y Jiumei Ciren [Gyurme Tsering] llegó a la corte a participar en la demanda.Prueba de este caso ha concluido.
cargos Yanqi Autónoma Hui de personas del condado de Fiscalía que: a principios de febrero de 1998, seis personas, entre ellas Abulizi Keranmu [Abliz Kerim], Zhigang Liang y Kuerban Jiamali [Qurban Jamal] (todos ya fueron condenados a sanciones penales) fue a las ruinas de la antigua ciudad de Loulan [El Kroraina Ruinas] en la orilla norte de la Nao'er Luobu Nuoqiang en el Condado, y robaron Luolan tumbas, robar reliquias culturales, incluyendo una alfombra, cojines y los zapatos etc de un ataúd en una tumba antigua situada en una posición 98L-M, y luego los llevó a la ciudad de Urumqi. A mediados de febrero de 1998, Abliz Kerim puso en contacto con el acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup con el fin de vender las mercancías, y dejar que Ruka Karma Samdrup en su casa para ver la mercancía "." Después de Ruka Karma Samdrup había estado en casa Abliz Kerim para ver la mercancía "," que compró varias de las reliquias incluyendo la alfombra, el cojín bordado y los zapatos a un precio de 84.000 EE.UU. [$ 12.360] yuanes. Durante su conversación, Ruka Karma Samdrup aprendido de Abliz Kerim que en la misma tumba quedaba reliquias como un ataúd decorado y restos momificados. Expresó el deseo de adquirirlos, y pidió Abliz Kerim para ir otra vez a robar el ataúd y los restos momificados, pidiendo que el corte no debería dañar las pinturas decorativas en los paneles del ataúd, y que debe envolverlo bien. Abliz Kerim luego compró un automóvil modelo 2020 [Beijing Jeep] y con Liang Zhigang adquirió las herramientas necesarias para el trabajo, incluida una sierra de mano y de goma espuma para el embalaje. A principios de marzo del mismo año, consiguió Abliz Kerim Aihemaiti Ruzi [Ahmed Rozi], Aihemaiti Manglike [Ahmed Menglik] (ya condenado a un castigo penal), y Aierken [Erkin] (manejada en un caso separado) una vez más ir a la tumba originalmente robado en las ruinas de la antigua ciudad de Loulan a cavar el ataúd de la tumba antigua y retirar los restos momificados.Desde dentro de la caja que robaron artículos como vestido de algodón de una mujer, un par de pantalones de algodón, un par de calcetines, dos velos de tela, un cuadro pintado y un plato pintado, y de conformidad con la petición de Ruka Karma Samdrup, ellos cortó la paneles decorados ataúd y envolvió bien en goma espuma. En ruta de vuelta en el coche, que sucedió a una patrulla de la Región Autónoma Uigur de Xinjiang trabajadores Oficina de Reliquias Culturales, y temiendo ser descubiertos, etc Abliz Kerim descargado los objetos robados incluyendo el panel ataúd decorado y los escondió en un parche cerca de tamariscos. Después de regresar a Urumchi, Abliz Kerim se reunió con Ruka Karma Samdrup en el Hotel Mundial, donde se discutieron temas como la recuperación de la caja y otros objetos robados. Debido a la rápida evolución en el caso, Kerim Abliz y Ruka Karma Samdrup fueron detenidos y en la arriba descrita reliquias culturales fueron recuperados.
De acuerdo con las acusaciones anteriores, el órgano acusador presentó esas pruebas en apoyo de su cargo como la lectura y la presentación ante el tribunal la confesión del acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup y la defensa, testimonios de testigos, pruebas materiales, la prueba documental, las apreciaciones y conclusiones, y los registros de las investigaciones llevó a cabo en el lugar.
La fiscalía considera que, de conformidad con los hechos y las pruebas, la parte demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup contravenido las leyes y reglamentos sobre la protección de reliquias culturales, otros incitaban a robar las tumbas de Loulan en las ruinas de la antigua ciudad de Loulan, las acciones que vulneren las normas en la Disposición primera del artículo 328 del Código Penal de la República Popular de China, los hechos del delito son claros, la evidencia es sólida y amplia, y la responsabilidad penal por el delito de saqueo de tumbas deben ser perseguidos. La parte demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup desempeñado un papel importante en la comisión de un delito común, y de conformidad con lo dispuesto en la Disposición primera del artículo 26 de la Ley Penal de la República Popular de China, él es el principal culpable. De conformidad con lo dispuesto en el artículo 141 del Código de Procedimiento Penal de la República Popular de China, este juego se presenta y la sentencia debe realizarse con arreglo a la ley.
En cuanto a los hechos procesar los cargos del órgano y las pruebas presentadas en el tribunal, el acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup argumentó que el delito que se le imputan en la demanda no se ajusta a los hechos, la acusación de que él incitó Abliz Kerim para robar de una tumba no era cierto , y que no hay pruebas para confirmar esto, y que su confesión fue obtenida mediante tortura. argumentos legales presentados por sus abogados defensores y Pu Zhiqiang Huiqing Li: las pruebas presentadas por la fiscalía no puede probar que las acciones del demandado constituía el delito de saqueo de tumbas, los testimonios de los testigos Abliz Kerim y Nu'ermaimaiti [Nurmuhemmad] no tenía legitimidad, la confesión del acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup se obtuvo mediante la tortura antes del juicio, y no se podría incluir como elemento de prueba decisivo, otras pruebas no demostraban que el acusado había cometido un crimen, y el tribunal, por tanto, declara que el acusado inocente.
Se demostró durante el juicio que a principios de febrero de 1998, seis personas, entre ellas Abliz Kerim, Zhigang Liang y Qurban Jamal (todos ya fueron condenados a sanciones penales) fue a las ruinas de la antigua ciudad de Loulan en la orilla norte de la Nao Luobu ' er en tumbas Nuoqiang Condado, y robaron Loulan, robar reliquias culturales, incluyendo una alfombra, cojines y los zapatos etc de un ataúd en una tumba antigua situada en una posición 98L-M, y luego los llevó a la ciudad de Urumqi. A mediados de febrero de 1998, Abliz Kerim puso en contacto con el acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup con el fin de vender las mercancías, y dejar que Ruka Karma Samdrup en su casa para ver las reliquias culturales. Después de Ruka Karma Samdrup había ido a ver en casa Abliz Kerim para ver, compró varias de las reliquias incluyendo la alfombra, el cojín bordado y los zapatos a un precio de 84.000 yuanes. Durante la conversación de dos personas, Ruka Karma Samdrup aprendido de Abliz Kerim que en la misma tumba quedaba reliquias como un ataúd decorado y restos momificados. Expresó que están dispuestos a comprar, e incitó a Abliz Kerim para ir otra vez a robar el ataúd y los restos momificados y le dijo cómo, pidiendo que al cortar no deben dañar las pinturas decorativas en el panel del ataúd, y que debe envolver para arriba también. Abliz Kerim luego compró un automóvil modelo 2020 [Beijing Jeep] y con Liang Zhigang adquirió las herramientas necesarias para el trabajo, incluida una sierra de mano y de goma espuma para el embalaje. A principios de marzo del mismo año, consiguió Abliz Kerim Ahmet Ruzi, Ahmet Menglik (ya condenado a un castigo penal), y Erkin (manejada en un caso separado) una vez más ir a la tumba original robado en las ruinas de la antigua ciudad de Loulan para excavar el ataúd de la tumba antigua y eliminar los restos momificados.Desde dentro del ataúd de madera pintada que robaron artículos como vestido de algodón de una mujer, una prenda de colores, un par de pantalones de algodón, un par de calcetines, dos velos de tela, un cuadro pintado y un plato pintado, y de conformidad con Ruka Karma Samdrup de solicitud, recortada paneles decorados del ataúd y las envolvió bien en goma espuma. En ruta de vuelta en el coche, que sucedió a una patrulla de la Región Autónoma Uigur de Xinjiang trabajadores Oficina de Reliquias Culturales, y temiendo ser descubiertos, etc Abliz Kerim descargado los objetos robados incluyendo el panel de caja de madera y los escondió en un parche cerca de tamariscos, y a continuación, huyó del lugar. Después de regresar a Urumchi, Abliz Kerim se reunió con Ruka Karma Samdrup en el Hotel Mundial, donde se abordaron recuperar el ataúd y otros objetos robados. Debido a la rápida evolución en el caso, Kerim Abliz y Ruka Karma Samdrup fueron detenidos y en la arriba descrita reliquias culturales fueron recuperados. Tras la confirmación y el testimonio expedido por las Reliquias Culturales de Xinjiang y de Investigación Arqueológica de la Academia, la tumba 98 LM que fue allanada por Abliz Kerim ubicado en N40 ° 41 '20.8'', E90 ° 07' 04''es una antigua tumba que cae dentro de la ámbito de aplicación de una dependencia estatal se centran artefacto cultural el trabajo de protección del anuncio en febrero de 1988. Las evaluaciones y conclusiones suministradas en datos obtenidos a Xinjiang Región Autónoma Uigur de Reliquias Culturales Comité de Evaluación de confirmar que el vestido de la mujer robada de algodón, la ropa interior, los pantalones de algodón y los calcetines de algodón son de grado I reliquias culturales nacionales, el ataúd pintado y la alfombra fueron de Grado II reliquias culturales nacionales, y los dos velos de tela, la nave de madera y el cojín bordado fueron de Grado III reliquias culturales, y la caja pintada y plato pintado eran reliquias culturales del estado normal.
Estos hechos son probados por las siguientes pruebas presentadas y fundamentados en la corte por el órgano acusador:
1. El testimonio del señor.
a) El testimonio del testigo Abliz Kerim y registros que identifiquen a demostrar: (i) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup preguntó Abliz Kerim a buscarlo algunas cosas "antiguas" de hace mucho tiempo, (ii) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup compró seis reliquias culturales robados por Abliz etc Kerim de una antigua tumba por el precio de 84.000 yuanes, (iii) el hecho de que cuando Ruka Karma Samdrup estaba comprando las reliquias culturales de antes descritos Abliz Kerim, al enterarse de que las reliquias culturales como caja de madera aún permanecían en el tumba y con un precio de compra de alta como incentivo, incitó Abliz Kerim para robar y vender él la caja de madera, restos momificados y otras reliquias culturales todavía en la tumba, y le transmitió un método de robar y transportar el ataúd pintado. Abliz Kerim utiliza entonces 31.000 yuanes del yuan 84.000 adquiridos por la venta de reliquias culturales de comprar un vehículo, en el que su regresó a la tumba original con Ahmet etc, y de conformidad con el método de robar el ataúd pintado describe a ellos por Ruka Karma Samdrup , se robaron desde el interior del ataúd vestido de algodón de una mujer, ropa interior uno, un par de pantalones de algodón, un par de calcetines de algodón, dos velos de tela, un cuadro pintado, un plato pintado; (iv) el hecho de que Abliz Kerim, una vez discutido Un asunto con Qibang, a saber, que Ruka Karma Samdrup quería que la caja de madera y los restos momificados, y que el dinero no era un problema, (v), tras el reconocimiento por parte Abliz Kerim de Ruka Karma Samdrup en una fotografía que él era la persona de quien había recibido el pago de los seis reliquias culturales.
b) Testimonio de los testigos Liang Zhigang prueba: (i) el hecho de que Liang Zhigang oído Abliz Kerim decir una vez que él sabía muy ricos tibetana llamada Karma (Karma Samdrup Ruka), y que esta tibetana quería sedas y alfombras temprana y que A algunos en "el desierto de Gobi" en Xinjiang, con lo cual Liang Zhigang y etc Abliz Kerim fue a robar de la tumba, (ii) el hecho de que Abliz Kerim dijo una vez en su casa a Liang Zhigang que Ruka Karma Samdrup quería que la caja de madera y los restos momificados en el desierto, que quería que todas las cosas dentro del ataúd, y, además, que Ruka Karma Samdrup dijo que el dinero no era un problema. Señaló que se debe utilizar una sierra para abrir el ataúd, luego lo envolvemos bien. Abliz Kerim y Liang Zhigang luego juntos compró dos sierras de mano y de goma espuma para envolver y proteger la caja de madera.
c) Testimonio de un testigo Qibang prueba: (i) Un Qibang aprendido en una conversación con Ruka Karma Samdrup que Ruka Karma Samdrup y Kerim Abliz estuvieron involucrados en el negocio de antigüedades, incluyendo alfombras viejas y telas viejas, (ii) el hecho de que Abliz Kerim dijo una vez un Qibang que vendió todos sus "mejores cosas" para Ruka Samdrup Karma, que él había usado el dinero de la venta de cosas para comprar un jeep blanco, que un día más tarde iba a volver a la antigua ciudad de Loulan para traer de vuelta el ataúd pintado para Ruka Samdrup Karma, y que había ya finalizado todo con Ruka Karma Samdrup, (iii) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup es capaz de comunicarse en chino.
d) El testimonio del testigo Nu'er Maimaiti (un delincuente detenido en la misma prisión que Ruka Karma Samdrup) demuestre que: (i) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup incitó y dio instrucciones a Abliz Kerim sobre la forma de robar de una tumba, (ii) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup gastado 84.000 yuanes en la compra de los seis reliquias culturales robados por Abliz Kerim, (iii) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup intentaron escapar de la sanción legal al pedir el testimonio Nurmuhemmad para ayudarle al ponerse de acuerdo en su confesión.
2. La confesión del acusado y la defensa.
Partes de la confesión del acusado Ruka Samdrup Karma y la defensa de ambas partes corroboran los testimonios testigo anterior. (I) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup tiene Abliz Kerim para conseguir que "las cosas" desde hace mucho tiempo, (ii) el hecho de que al comprar las seis reliquias culturales robados por Abliz Kerim de 84.000 yuanes, Ruka Karma Samdrup aprendido todavía había una pintadas ataúd y restos momificados en "el desierto de Gobi", y que al ofrecer un alto precio como incentivo, pidió Abliz Kerim de "rescatar" la caja de madera, (iii) el hecho de que Ruka Karma Samdrup explica una manera de robar la caja de madera, pidiéndoles que no dañar la decoración de la caja de madera, para utilizar sierras para aserrar abrirlo, y para condensar bien en una caja de embalaje a "traerlo de vuelta."
3. Los registros de las investigaciones realizadas en el lugar y las Reliquias Culturales y Arqueología de Xinjiang evidencia de la investigación de la Academia: demostrar el hecho de que los 98 LM tumba que fue allanada por Abliz Kerim ubicado en N40 ° 41 '20.8'', E90 ° 07' 04''es una antigua tumba que cae dentro del ámbito de una unidad estatal de atención artefacto cultural el trabajo de protección del anuncio en febrero de 1988.
4. Valoraciones y conclusiones: evidencia de que entre las reliquias culturales Abliz Kerim fue incitado a robar por Ruka Karma Samdrup y que fueron recibidos por Ruka Karma Samdrup fueron (i) de la mujer vestido de algodón, la ropa interior, los pantalones de algodón y los calcetines de algodón que son de grado Yo reliquias culturales nacionales, (ii) la caja de madera y la alfombra que son de grado II culturales reliquias nacionales, (iii) los dos velos de tela, la nave de madera y el cojín bordado que son reliquias de grado III cultural; (vi) y el pintado cuadro y plato pintado que son reliquias culturales estado normal.
5. Las pruebas documentales: Tribunal Popular Intermedio de la Prefectura de Ba (1999) Doc. No. 4 Sentencia demuestra el hecho de que en febrero de 1998, Abliz Kerim venden las reliquias culturales robadas de una tumba - una alfombra, una almohada, un recipiente de madera, una bandeja de madera, un cuenco de madera y un par de zapatos - a la parte demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup por el precio de 84.000 yuanes, y el hecho de que el cuando el acusado Ruka Karma Samdrup [sic - sb Kerim Abliz]? había robado la caja de madera, restos momificados y ropa , que luego los venden a la parte demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup.
La evidencia anterior ha sido interrogado por el tribunal y obtuvo legalmente, y directa o indirectamente demuestra los hechos del caso, que sea afirmada por este tribunal.
Este tribunal considera que la demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup contravenido las leyes y reglamentos sobre la protección de reliquias culturales, y otros incitado a robar las tumbas de Loulan en el estado cultural de la unidad de trabajo de protección de las ruinas de la antigua ciudad de Loulan es. Sus acciones constituyen el delito de saqueo de tumbas, y debe ser castigado según la ley. El órgano acusador al imputado Ruka Karma Samdrup por el delito de saqueo de tumbas y de los hechos del crimen se han establecido y cuentan con el apoyo de este tribunal. La parte demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup desempeñado un papel importante en la incitación a Abliz Kerim para llevar a cabo un segundo robo en las antiguas tumbas de Loulan y es el principal culpable, y debe ser castigado según el papel que desempeñó en la comisión de un delito común. En cuanto a la parte demandada y la sugerencia de su abogado que la confesión del acusado fue obtenida mediante tortura, que el testimonio de los testigos era ilegítima y constituye la prueba ilícita, por lo que no se puede utilizar como prueba determinante en un caso, después de un examen durante el juicio y con respecto a la confesión del acusado antes del juicio y la legalidad de la adquisición de pruebas, como declaraciones de testigos, etc, el órgano acusador ya ha presentado pruebas adicionales sólida y amplia que se puede utilizar como base para decidir en este caso. Y por lo tanto, las sugerencias de los abogados son insostenibles. Con respecto a su afirmación de que el crimen del que el acusado está acusado no puede ser establecida y que el acusado debe declararse inocente, esto no es aprobado.De conformidad con las disposiciones del artículo en (i) del apartado 1 del artículo 328 y la cláusula 1 del artículo 25, las cláusulas 1 y 4 del artículo 26; la cláusula 1 del artículo 29; la cláusula 1 del artículo 56; la cláusula 1 del artículo 55; artículo 52 , y el artículo 53 de la Ley Penal de la República Popular de China, el juicio es el siguiente:
La parte demandada Ruka Karma Samdrup cometido el delito de saqueo de tumbas, y es condenado a prisión por plazo de 15 años, la privación de derechos políticos durante 5 años y una multa de 10.000 yuanes.
(El término oración es a partir de la frase, se pasa días. El tiempo servido en prisión antes de la sentencia será retirado del término de la condena, con un día quitado la condena cumplida por cada día de detención. Por lo tanto, se ejecutará pena de 07 de enero 2010 hasta el 19 de noviembre 2024. La multa se abonará en un pago único dentro de los 10 días después de que esta decisión se haga efectiva.)
Si esta sentencia es impugnada, un recurso puede presentarse bien a través de este órgano jurisdiccional, o directamente al Tribunal de Justicia de la Prefectura de Bayingguoleng Popular Intermedio de un plazo de 10 días a partir del día siguiente a la recepción de este documento de sentencia. Apelaciones por escrito debe ser presentado como un recurso original con dos copias.
juez que dicta sentencia: Guo Yanzhi
juez que dicta sentencia: Ma Zenghua
juez que dicta sentencia: Xie Zhongcheng
24 de junio 2010
Grabadora: Ma Yan
[Uigur y la Corte sello chino] Yanqi Autónoma Hui de personas del condado de
[Uigur y sello chino] Esta copia no difiere de la original
El misterio detrás de las cámaras-en el caso de injusta contra un ambientalista líder tibetano
En este artículo, traducido al Inglés por las TIC, el periodista Zhang Jieping dos entrevistas Karma Samdrup los abogados, Pu Zhiqiang y Li Huiqing para Asia Weekly, una revista de noticias líder en idioma chino en Hong Kong.Los abogados de describir en detalle los obstáculos en su camino mientras trataban de preparar el caso, y las fallas de procedimiento en el caso, que van desde la retención pruebas clave de la fiscalía hasta que el juez en el caso de recibir instrucciones al parecer texted en su teléfono móvil mientras el tribunal estaba en sesión.
Asia Vol. semanal. 24, Número 28, 18 de julio de 2010.
Zhang Jieping: El misterio detrás de las cámaras-en el caso de injusta contra un ambientalista líder tibetano
- Entrevista: Los abogados defensores Pu Zhiqiang y Li Huiqing
Un caso de 12 años de saqueo de tumbas contra el Tibetano Karma Samdrup ecologista ha vuelto a abrir. En el momento en que fue declarado inocente y puesto en libertad, pero ahora fue condenado a 15 años de prisión.Algunas de las pruebas de cargo fue obtenida mediante tortura, y hay alteraciones y firmas adicionales a la práctica totalidad del registro. El documento de la sentencia está llena de errores, y los abogados defensores y Pu Zhiqiang Huiqing Li están decididos a apelar.
El caso de un tibetano en un condado Autónoma Hui en una prefectura autónoma de Mongolia en la Autónoma Uigur de Xinjiang Región se celebró del 22 junio hasta 24 junio, 2010, en el juicio contra Karma Samdrup en el Tribunal Yanqi La gente del condado de los cargos de profanación de tumbas fue dijo en el expediente a ser un caso de "la cooperación multi-étnica".
On June 24, there was the sound of a gavel falling in Yanqi People’s Court, and Karma Samdrup was declared guilty at the trial of first instance on charges of instigating the excavation and theft of a coffin and mummified remains etc from the ancient Loulan tombs, and sentenced to a 15-year fixed term of imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for five years, and fined 10,000 renminbi (around US $1500). On July 3, 2010 the two lawyers and members of Karma Samdrup’s family submitted materials for an appeal hearing. Karma Samdrup, known as the “King of Dzi” in Tibet, along with others including his younger brother Rinchen Samdrup have actively participated in Tibet’s cultural and environmental undertakings, but they have both recently been sentenced to prison. On July 3, Rinchen Samdrup was sentenced to five years imprisonment by Changdu Intermediate Court on charges of incitement to split the nation.
Based on almost exactly the same evidence in 1998, the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Procuracy deemed Karma Samdrup was innocent, and didn’t bring a case against him. It was inconceivable that 12 years later, this Tibetan businessman with a passion for charity could be arrested again and then given a heavy sentence following his confession being extorted through serious torture. The lawyers were left speechless by the number of errors in the sentencing document. Asia Weekly interviewed Karma Samdrup’s two lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang and Li Huiqing, and excerpts of the interview are reproduced below.
The accusation against Karma Samdrup of grave-robbing are from a 1998 case when he was deemed innocent, and so why has the case against him been re-opened now?
Pu Zhiqiang: The origin of this case, as far as we can see from public material, is that it was initiated by the Xinjiang Politics and Law Committee. The Bayingguoleng Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s Criminal Investigations Unit had issued an “Account of apprehending Karma Samdrup,” [Gama Sangzhu zhuahuo jingguo] which was submitted by the Bayingguoleng Procuracy to the court. This document says that on December 27, 2009, the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Politics and Law Committee’s Law Enforcement Group discovered an old case during the course of their work for which they considered Karma Samdrup’s criminal responsibility should be pursued. The Autonomous Regional Politics and Law Committee and the Autonomous Regional Public Security Department passed the case to the Bayingguoleng Public Security Department for handling, and on December 30, 2009, the case was put on file for investigation and prosecution. Karma Samdrup was detained in Chengdu on January 3, and taken to Kuerle [Korla, in Xinjiang] and then to Kuqiang [Loulan, in Xinjiang], where the charge was changed and referred to Bayingguoleng Prefecture; the new charges were passed to Yanqi, and the Yanqi Procuracy filed a public prosecution, and Yanqi Court tried the case.
Twelve years ago Karma was a suspect, but after the Procuracy looked into the case they proved he was innocent and didn’t file a public prosecution. Why didn’t the same thing happen when the case was tried again? What new evidence is there?
Pu Zhiqiang: Within the evidence presented by the prosecution was a 1998 report on the conclusions from investigations of the grave robbery, describing the process leading to putting Karma Samdrup on bail awaiting trial [qubao houshen]. At the time, he wasn’t part of the case that was transferred for investigation and trial, and in the report the investigating organ concluded that Karma Samdrup had not committed a crime. That is to say, the charges against Abliz et al in 1998 did not include charges against Karma, and the trial did not refer to him, not to mention actually trying him. The important changes now are explained by saying the case was misjudged at the time and that the most important culprit was released; but if the case was not misjudged at the time, then there is even less of a case against him now. In accordance with the principle of “Leniency for past wrong deeds” when applying the law, if actions in the past are not considered to constitute a crime under the Criminal Law at the time, even if those actions are considered a crime under the current Criminal Law, it should still be considered when handling the case that the person’s actions did not constitute a crime.
Almost the entire record was altered
In addition, in the evidence presented this time by the prosecution, there was nothing that was able to prove he committed a crime. Some of the evidence was extorted through torture, and almost all of the transcripts had been poorly altered or had signatures added, and most of it was the old records from 1998.
According to the 1998 record, when Karma was detained he didn’t have a translator for a long time and basically wasn’t able to communicate. Twenty days later he was assigned a translator, a Mongolian lama who spoke Mongolian and a little Tibetan learned from Buddhist scriptures, which was a dialect from Shigatse Prefecture and completely different to the Kham dialect. In the early period he didn’t have a translator, but later the translation was done based on the Mongolian lama with Shigatse dialect’s understanding of the Kham dialect that Karma spoke. This was then translated into Uyghur, and then finally a policeman who understood Uyghur translated the record into Chinese. It’s difficult to say how many errors occurred in this process. And so the final conviction was based on Karma’s 1998 record and Abliz’s record, which themselves were confessions extorted through torture by police, plus the stories of the grave-robbers. Not only does none of it equate with the truth, it’s actually getting further and further away from truth. I think that procedurally, this entire case is a complete fake.
What’s the basis for sentencing him to 15 years?
Pu Zhiqiang: Clause 1 of Article 328 of the Criminal Law clearly states that whoever robs an ancient tomb under the following circumstances shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, or life imprisonment or death. The first of these circumstances is “excavating and robbing a site of ancient culture or ancient tomb which is designated as a major site to be protected at the national or provincial level for their historical and cultural value.” The Loulan ruins are within Yanqi County, and are a nationally protected cultural site. And suppose Karma Samdrup was the main culprit, that it could be established he directed and instigated the actions, then sentencing him to more than 10 years, or life imprisonment or death is all within the legal scope of the law. But Yanqi County Court doesn’t have the authority to pass to pass a life sentence or the death sentence. This was for a single crime, and not punishment for a multiple crimes, and so according to my analysis prior to sentencing if he was convicted he would likely face a fixed-term sentence of 10 to 15 years, appended with deprivation of political rights. The final choice was 15 years, and it should be said that this sentence is quite harsh. However, Karma Samdrup did not commit a crime, so the sentence itself is not actually the key problem.
As the defense lawyers, what was your overall impression from the day you took over the case to the three-day court trial, and then the eventual sentencing?
Li Huiqing: It should be said that a case of grave-robbing is just an ordinary criminal case, it’s just that here it touches upon minority nationalities. Just looking at it procedurally, from the beginning of January and going to see the litigants at the detention center in Loulan, the officer in charge of the case, Zhang Weidong approved our visit but then refused later visits, saying that the Autonomous Region had established a project team [xiangmu zu], and we didn’t know if this was true or not. Come May when the case went to the Procuracy, the court announced that the trial would start on June 1 – under normal conditions it wouldn’t have been this rushed.
The judge wouldn’t let the lawyers see the case file
When I went to Yanqi detention center to see the litigant they told me there was no one there, and I had to go and consult the detention center director. A guard told me that this was a secret case. It was then that I realized this case was different and that there seemed to be forces interfering in the background. On May 27, Judge Ma told me there were a couple of problems in the case file that he wanted to point out to me, and he took the files away from me and fooled us! Once he had them in his hands he wouldn’t give them back, saying the leaders had confirmed they couldn’t be given to me, and that he wouldn’t let me photocopy them. So from four o’clock in the afternoon of that day, Mr. Pu and I had to copy documents by hand until three in the morning of the next day, and we spent all of May 29 copying too. We kept on asking them to allow us to copy the files in accordance with the law, and with the trial due to start on June 22, they finally allowed us to make copies on June 21, but parts of the material had been removed.
Pu Zhiqiang: The “Account of apprehending Karma Samdrup” issued previously by the Bayingguoleng Prefecture Public Security Bureau had been removed as evidence by the prosecution when the trial started, perhaps thinking it was inappropriate and that it exposed the Politics and Law Committee’s hidden hand. Thus, proof was turned into incomplete evidence. This amounted to taking something that in 1998 had closed the case against him and then using it to prove the account of his apprehension. When the trial started, I asked whether or not they were going to submit it, and the prosecution said they had already submitted everything. I said okay then, I’ll submit it as a supplement to your evidence. And so I took this document that we’d copied by hand, and submitted it as evidence for the defense. A good many items of evidence were submitted under these circumstances.
Li Huiqing: The impression I got over the three days was that we were allowed to say what we wanted to say, and we said a lot, but none of the applications and requests we made in accordance with the law were supported by the court. For example, an examination of whether the evidence was legitimate? No. Witnesses should testify in court? No. They didn’t even reply to the key questions and rejected all of our applications. We requested a review process of illegal evidence be started, but in the end it was just brushed aside. Finally, the Procuracy presented a record proving that the investigative personnel had not extorted a confession through torture, but it was such an inept and clumsy denial that had been prepared in advance that it amounted to an acknowledgment confessions had indeed been extorted through torture.
Pu Zhiqiang: They were also quite incomplete in their forgeries. The original copy of Abliz’s record was not signed, and nor did it even bear the signature of the officer handling the case, and so even the formal requirements of the evidence were not met. On May 27 when we saw the copy, it wasn’t signed. After they took it back a signature was added in accordance with Public Security Bureau requirements within a day, and added to the file. The 1998 record was written in fountain pen, as were signatures appended following successive interrogations over the months, but it was obvious that the same pen had been used for Abliz’s signature. I asked them about this when the trial started but no one answered because they were unable to answer.
During the trial, the judge received texts
The most important and the most frequent thing the judge kept saying was: You may not speak! Who said you could speak! The defense will watch what they say! You may not insult the prosecutors! On the first day of the trial, a Court Police officer approached the judge three times and handed him an envelope; the same thing happened on the second day. So I said, I’d like to know, Judge, what on earth it is you’re being given there? I hope that aside from the several of you here at the trial there’s no one else telling you all what you should and shouldn’t do. And so he wasn’t given any more envelopes, but whoever was sending him information used text messages instead. How do I know? The three judges, the two defense lawyers and the two prosecution lawyers were all sat in front of microphones, and when a text message came in it disturbed proceedings – everyone else’s phones had been taken away. The cards were deliberately stacked against us to an incredible degree: they’d slip a card for themselves under the table then not let you take one, then change their own cards – it was unbelievable.
When the court went into recess in the evening of June 23, we asked the collegial panel of judges for a “private” communication, where I accepted the criticism leveled that I had been disrespectful to the court and the prosecutors, but I also raised the issue that Judge Guo Yanzhi had had “wise counsel” delivered to the court numerous times [via his mobile phone]. So I said that the court had broken the law right in front of the Procuracy, the Procuracy had reported falsely in front of the court, and then the police stated that they hadn’t extorted confessions through torture, while Karma resolutely refused to admit to any crime. That was the situation.
The prosecution’s evidence was so weak and there were so many contradictions throughout, yet ultimately a heavy sentence was still quickly passed, so what do you think are the background reasons for all this?
Pu Zhiqiang: It’s a fact that a large amount of cultural artifacts have been stolen from Xinjiang, and that there’s an urgent need to punish people according to law who steal from Xinjiang’s tombs. But there’s surely no need for the authorities to drag a case up from more than 10 years ago and put so much effort into going to Beijing and then Chengdu to detain a Tibetan man, and mobilizing so many resources on the case – is that really worthwhile?
There’s one explanation that says Karma’s bad luck here was because he was behind mass petitions in his home area of Gonjo County in Tibet. But I think the police were a little blind on this one when they were providing evidence. Karma’s cellmate Nurmuhemmad’s testimony raised two points: the first was that Karma spoke to him and said he had gone to Xinjiang because the government in Tibet was after him since he deliberately incited the masses to file petitions, and that because petitions are often successful around the time of the Two Conferences [the concurrent annual meetings of China’s national parliament and its advisory body, usually in early March of each year], he had therefore supported the petitioners and given them ideas; and the second was that he said 10 or more years ago when the robbers ran back into the desert to steal the mummified remains from the coffin and the coffin itself, it was at his bidding. But I think this defies common sense.
With regard to petitioning in Tibetan areas, I provided a body of evidence that rebutted this, including a letter from Karma Samdrup to the petitioners in Zirong Village urging everyone to trust the government and to trust the Party, and that Secretary Wang should be given the space to solve the problems. This letter proves that he hadn’t advocated or incited petitioners, the opposite in fact: he brought the good wishes of the government to mediate with the petitioners. Another piece of evidence was a memorandum, a memorandum signed between the government and Party leaders of Chamdo Prefecture and a dozen or so petitioners from Zirong Village in which the villagers are urged to go home, that their problems would be resolved, the compensation for the farmlands returned to forests would be resolved, and which was then signed by these villagers and the Party and government leaders. This explains that the villagers did indeed petition, but the government signed a memorandum with the petitioners explaining that the problems would be resolved. The judges said that this evidence had no relevance to the case and was inadmissible. I said that establishing the relevance of evidence is a question decided by the court only after that evidence has been cross-examined, and that they could dismiss it, but they couldn’t stop us from submitting it. He said that was no good, but I could sense they very nervous about it.
But personally, I don’t really believe this was a factor. There are small villages practically all over the entire nation like this one in Tibet submitting petitions – wherever you go, crows are black. As an analogy, people from my hometown come to Beijing to submit petitions, but supposing someone from my hometown came to Beijing to petition but everyone suspected me of putting him up to it, would they really find somewhere else – like Hong Kong and the Public Security Law – to get me and sentence me? This has brought Xinjiang out, which isn’t worth it – Xinjiang can’t even take care of its own business, but they go to all these lengths just to keep Tibet’s arse clean? Just for this? Just to resolve the problem of a village petition in Tibet?
I think all of the reasons we’ve seen are all untrue. So what is the true reason? Do you think Karma has upset anyone? He’s built bridges and laid roads, he was forever doing good deeds, he relations with the government were not bad, and he had never deliberately upset anyone. I think there are probably other background forces in the two Autonomous Regions pushing this matter along. But what’s their purpose? I can’t figure it out. I’m a lawyer, not a politician – I don’t have the energy.
What were the circumstances during the few times you saw Karma Samdrup? What were your impressions?
Li Huiqing: I saw Karma again on May 17. When I saw him in January he was a little overweight with lots of long black hair and a mustache. By May 17, he’d lost about 40lbs. He spoke briefly about how the people inside were beating him. Later during the trial he described this in some detail. Karma gave me an impression of honesty, saying that if he was found guilty and sentenced to death, then that was fine; but it’d be wrong if he was found innocent and then sentenced. He explained himself in the Tibetan language: “The snow mountains have always been white, but they are yellow when seen by one with a jaundiced eye; the fact is that this does not change the mountain’s true color.”
Pu Zhiqiang: I had an extremely good impression of Karma. The man is a deity. To be tortured to the extent he was but still not give in. Such a will – the Han people, such as me, we use Wen Tianxiang [an official from the Song Dynasty, famed for his resistance to the Mongol invasion] to give us fortitude, and if I was put into his position I’d immediately think of Wen Tianxiang, and immediately think of Yue Fei [a poet and general, also from the Song Dynasty, famed for his loyalty], and if I still couldn’t stand it I might even think of Lei Feng [a fabled PLA soldier, celebrated for his complete devotion to Mao and the revolution], and then I wouldn’t be able to stand it any more! But Karma, he doesn’t need this. He doesn’t need to think of anything, he’s in a completely free and natural state. The Buddhist’s view of life and death is not the same as the Han’s. They believe in lives to come, in cause and effect.
Karma faces his wrongful imprisonment with serenity
Perhaps this suffering is a catastrophe that he has to face in the course of his lifetime. He can accept it with serenity, but you can’t make him tell lies. He says he doesn’t hate these people: “As far as I’m concerned, you’ve taken me in, beaten me, sentenced me, and this has been my fate. And I know, this is like the Cultural Revolution, so this is my Karma!” That’s how he regarded what has befallen him when the trial started. Before the trial started, I asked him if his Chinese had improved between 1998 and now? He said it had progressed quickly, and that the two times he’d been in prison his Chinese had got better very quickly indeed – originally, he barely understood it at all. I think for people like this, as far as they’re concerned, going to prison and other such suffering is nothing to them. In the eyes of the laity such as us, we don’t even dare to look up to someone such as he. I once said to him I wanted to become his private friend, and that I believed we could be good friends. I told him I thought he was innocent and that I could get him out. He was happy.
“A simple glance will show why this is so cruel.”
In this posting from Pu Zhiqiang’s blog published the day after the trial concluded, Pu Zhiqiang reproduces three key documents from the trial. The first is an account by the local police of the decision-making process to instigate proceedings against Karma Samdrup, which reveals that the case had been illegitimately instigated by a Party committee – only the police, the courts and the prosecution have the authority to do so under China’s legal system.
The second document is an account of Karma Samdrup’s detention in 1998 but which is dated April 10, 2010, and which is thought to have been heavily doctored. The third document is an account of Karma Samdrup’s detention in 1998 by the officers involved in the case and which goes on to recommend that Karma Samdrup had not committed a crime. Pu Zhiqiang notes that because the document didn’t bear the officers’ signatures and police seal, the prosecution said it only amounted to a personal opinion by the officers involved.
The account of apprehending Karma Samdrup “Two sets of papers, one of which dropped by the prosecution,” and Bayingguoleng Prefecure Public Security pre-trial report concluding that Karma hadn’t committed a crime (extracts).
On May 27 of this year, Li Huiqing copied some 70 pages from part of the case file at Yanqi Court, including two copies of accounts of Karma Samdrup’s detentions issued by Bayingguoleng Prefecture Public Security Bureau, one of which is from 1998, and the other of which is from this year. In this year’s one, the investigating organ reveals that they had gone to war to resurrect an old case) to try and detain Karma, originally on the orders of the Xinjiang Politics and Law Committee Procuratorial Group. The case subsequently moved very quickly and two days later, over the New Year, they went to Chengdu and arrested Karma. But then Judge Ma Zenghua went to the hotel [where Li Huiqing was staying in Yanqi] and lied about there being several places that were unclear, and could he check [the copies of the documents]. Thus he swindled the documents away, later saying this was a decision by the leaders and that because the case was sensitive he couldn’t let the file be copied, and that if you wanted to see it you would have to go to the court, and I will arrange for you to copy abstracts [by hand]. All he could do was go back to the court and accompanied by the judge, take abstracts of the documents well into the night. On May 29, I arrived in Yanqi and had to delay meeting with Karma while we focused our energy on making the abstracts, where I discovered two documents stapled together in the file, and which I then entered them personally by hand into the computer.
On June 21, the day before the trial was to open, the court finally allowed us to copy “all” of the prosecution files. In passing, I discovered that the prosecution had taken out the Bayingguoleng Prefecture Public Security Bureau account of Karma’s detention this year. When prosecutors persisted in refusing to show this piece of evidence, as defense lawyer I presented it as evidence to the court during the defense stage of proceedings, and pointed out that the reason the case had reached this particular stage was because of the behind-the-scenes forces of the Xinjiang Politics and Law Committee – that everything could be traced back to them. The trial judge ordered me to talk only about questions pertinent to the case, and that I would have to refrain from everything else. I said that this was indeed pertinent to this case, and that this proved the prosecution had not submitted all of the evidence. When the prosecutor Kuang Ying was cross-examining, her first doubt raised was that my evidence didn’t meet the formal documentation standards. I asked the judge to obtain this evidence from her seeing as the formal standard version was there in her hand, and that moreover I was doing her a favor by completing the prosecution’s procedural file because the copy of the account of apprehending Karma from 1998 had absolutely nothing to do with this case – back then he was released and there was a conclusion from the police saying he hadn’t committed a crime. The prosecutor said as an organ for administering the law of the nation, the reviews, supervision and guidance given on this case by the Politics and Law Committee was legal [legitimate]. I immediately expressed my amazement, saying that all of the education I had received told me that the state’s organs for administering the law were the police, the public procuracy and the courts, and government administrative offices with law-enforcement powers, while the Politics and Law Committee is after all just an internal Party structure; the fact that a procuratorial official and very fine prosecutor should actually think that the Politics and Law Committee could intervene and start investigations into a case left me feeling truly hopeless.
When the public prosecutor handed over the “Pretrial conclusions” document issued by Bayingguoleng Prefecture Police Officers Shi Lei et al on March 30, 1998, it clearly stated therein the conclusion that Karma Samdrup had not committed a crime. Karma Samdrup’s case was not transferred for prosecution, and the crime of grave robbing committed by Abliz et al had nothing to do with Karma Samdrup. However, the aim of the prosecution this time was to show that Karma Samdrup had committed the crimes of inciting and supporting [grave robbing]. When I made this point, she said that this 1998 document was just the personal actions of the Police officers handling the case, because it didn’t bear an official seal.
Pu Zhiqiang June 25, 2010, Linfen, Shanxi.
The two documents are below – a simple glance will show why this is so cruel:
1: “The account of apprehending Karma Samdrup” (Prosecution refused to submit, I submitted it as evidence for the defense)
Criminal suspect Ruka Karma Samdrup; male; Tibetan; born May 8, 1968; elementary school education; self-employed trader; from Maidong [Tibetan: ?] Village, Xiangpi [Tibetan: Gyanbe] Township, Gongjue [Tibetan: Gonjo] County, Changdu [Tibetan: Chamdo] Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region; ID No. 542123106805080018; Passport No. G12715295; Hong Kong and Macau travel permit W00550897; prior to detention a resident of No. 1-1-8, 19 Xiajiahe Xingrong Street, Chengdu City, Sichuan. Taken into criminal detention on January 7, 2010 by Nuoqiang County Public Security Bureau on suspicion of illegally trading in cultural artifacts, formally arrested on February 9 of the same year on the approval of Bayingguoleng Prefecture People’s Procuracy on suspicion of grave robbing, currently detained in Korla detention center.
In the March 10, 1998 case of grave robbing by Abliz Kerim et al, it was discovered on December 27, 2009 during work by the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Politics and Law Committee Law Enforcement Group that following examination, criminal responsibility against Ruka Karma Samdup should be pursued in connection with the case according to law, and that same year, the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Politics and Law Committee and the Xinjiang Autonomous Regional Public Security Bureau took the case. On December 30, 2009, Nuoqiang County PSB in Bayingguoleng Prefecture initiated an investigation, and the criminal suspect Ruka Karma Samdrup was detained on January 4, 2010 from room 405 of the Modern Commerce Hotel on 158 Heng Jie An Yi Ximianqiao Road in Chengdu. On January 7 he was taken to Bayingguoleng Prefecture, and is currently being held in Korla detention center.
Bayingguoleng Prefecture PSB Investigative Unit.
(Stamp: Bayingguoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture PSB Criminal Investigative Unit, Xinjiang)
January 10, 2010
2. The account of apprehending Karma Samdrup in 1998 (submitted by the prosecution)
In February 1998, in accordance with clues obtained by the Autonomous Regional Public Security Department, information about the identity of thieves who raided a thousand-year-old tomb in the Loulan ruins within Bayingguoleng Prefecture was basically confirmed. On March 10, 1998 the Public Security Department leadership decided to dispatch personnel led by Zhang [Zhuomin], Head of the Public Security Department Investigations Bureau, to establish a specialized “98-3-10” investigation group to carry out an investigation into the theft at the Loulan ancient tomb. Following work, a total of six criminal suspects headed by Abliz Kerim were detained, and in accordance with Abliz Kerim’s confession, it was ascertained that the Tibetan businessman Karma Samdrup had bought six items they had stolen during a first robbery at the Loulan tomb, and who had then instructed Abliz et al to return and get a painted coffin still in the tomb, which he would purchase. In accordance with Karma Samdrup’s instructions, Abliz et al again entered the Loulan tomb to steal the painted coffin, and using a saw to saw it open they then wrapped it and placed it in a car. They happened upon a patrol and so abandoned the painted coffin and other artifacts in a patch of tamarisk in the Gobi Desert before making their escape.
In view of the fact that Karma Samdrup’s actions constitute joint commission of a crime, the case group decided to detain Karma Samdrup. First, comrades from the Bayingguoleng Prefecture Criminal Investigations Unit including Comrade Yin Baolin, Political Commissar and comrades from the [autonomous regional] Public Security Department went to Yushu Prefecture in Qinghai (previous information had said that Karma Samdrup was in Yushu) to apprehend him; and second, following Abliz’s account of a telephone conversation between Abliz and Karma Samdrup inducing him to Urumchi, Karma Samdrup would be apprehended in Urumchi. Both operations were conducted at the same time.
On March 16, 1998, a party from the Public Security Department led by Department Head Zhang Zhuomin took Abliz from police detention to Abliz’s home, and using a number previously supplied by Karma Samdrup and in accordance with previous arrangements Abliz told Karma Samdrup, “Yesterday I came back from a long way away, and I’ve brought back the things you wanted as per your instructions, so please bring the money to Urumchi as soon as possible and collect the goods.” Karma Samdrup said, “I’ll be on the March 18 flight to Urumchi to collect the goods, so please take very good care of the goods.” In accordance with the situation, Department Head Zhang Zhuomin made immediate preparations, and successfully apprehended Karma Samdrup on March 18 at Chaiwopu Airport in Urumchi, following which the six cultural artifacts stolen from Loulan tomb and bought by Karma Samdrup were recovered.
Bayingguoleng Prefecture PSB Criminal Investigations Unit
(Stamped with the Bayingguoleng Prefecture PSB Criminal Investigations Unit’s seal)
April 22, 2010.
3. Pretrial conclusions
In the case of stealing from ancient ruins and grave robbing against the criminal suspects Abliz Kerim, Liang Zhigang, Ahmet Rozi, Ahmet Menglik and Mehmet Tohti, and following interrogations and investigations from April 26 until May 29 of the same year, pretrial conclusions have been made. The results of the report are as follows:
1: The basic details of the criminal suspects (omitted)
2: Background of the case (omitted)
3: Facts of the case (omitted)
[…] On February 21 at his home in Urumchi, the criminal suspect Abliz Kerim sold the stolen cultural relics of a velvet carpet and an embroidered cushion and a wooden vessel to a Tibetan businessman by the name of Karma Samdrup for 84,000 yuan, and later the criminal Abliz Kerim used the money he had gained to buy a 2020 model Bejing Jeep and tools including handsaws, foam rubber and sneakers. On February 26, he again gathered together the criminal suspects Ahmet Menglik, Ahmet Rozi and his younger brother Erkin to drive to the Loulan ancient ruins, and in the original 98 L-M tombs the two criminal suspects Abliz Kerim and Ahmet Rozi dug out the coffin. Then using the saws that they had brought with them, they cut a panel off the coffin and used foam rubber to wrap and steal a woman’s cotton dress, an undershirt, a pair of cotton trousers, a pair of cotton socks, a painted box, a painted platter, the decorated coffin and two cotton veils.
According to evaluations by the Autonomous Regional Academy of Archaeology, the raided 98 L-M tomb is in the Yadan area of ancient Loulan, which is a State Cultural Heritage site. Three of the stolen documents [sic] (the cotton socks, the cotton trousers, and the undershirt) are Class I state protected cultural relics; two of the items (the velvet carpet and the painted coffin) are Class II state protected cultural items; while the embroidered pillow, the two cotton veils and the wooden vessels are Class III state protected cultural relics.
Explanation of the problem:
a) The criminal suspects Abliz Kerim, Ahmet Menglik, Mehmet Tohti and Qurban Jamil are able to express themselves in Chinese to a degree, and during the process of interrogation and investigation, both ethnically Uyghur and Han officers participated, and for the interrogation of Karma Samdrup, a specialist personnel who understood Chinese was employed. The records of the above persons’ interrogations were kept in Chinese.
b) Because Erkin, the suspect involved in the case of the second robbery at 98 L-M, has no employment and is of no fixed abode, numerous attempts have failed to bring him in.
c) Following consultations with the Autonomous Regional Cultural Artifacts Bureau, there is no state policy on the individual ownership of cultural artifacts. Karma Samdrup, suspected of buying the stolen cultural artifacts, has membership of the Beijing Oriental Collectors Association, and there is no evidence that this person illegally sold the cultural artifacts. According to the “Criminal Law,” this does not warrant criminal punishment, so on April 29, 1998 he was placed on bail awaiting trial [qubao houshen].
d) The criminal suspect Qurban Jamil turned himself in after committing the crime and confessed truthfully to his criminal behavior, and won merit for exposing the criminal actions of others. In accordance with the provisions of Articles 67 and 68 of the “Criminal Law,” he therefore avoids criminal punishment and on May 7, 1998 he was placed on bail awaiting trial.
4: Suggestions for proceeding
The actions of the criminal suspect Kerim contravened Article 324, Clause 1, and Article 326 and Article 328 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China constituting the crime of deliberately destroying cultural relics, the crime of selling cultural relics, and the crime of looting cultural ruins and grave robbing. The actions of the criminal suspect Ahmet Rozi contravened the provisions of Article 324, Clause 1 and Article 328 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, constituting the crime of deliberately destroying cultural relics, the crime of selling cultural relics, and the crime of looting cultural ruins and grave robbing. Upon being released on completion of his sentence in May 1998, the criminal suspect Liang Zhigang once again committed a crime for which the provisions of Article 65 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China apply. After repeated interrogation and investigation, un-named criminal suspects confessed fully and without reservation. The facts of the case are clear, and the evidence is solid and ample. Upon completion of the legal formalities, this case shall be transferred to Bayingguoleng Prefecture People’s Procuracy in accordance with Article 129 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China in order for criminal responsibility to be pursued.
Please comment on any inaccuracies in the above report.
Undertaken by: Bayingguoleng Prefecture PSB Criminal Investigations Unit
Persons in charge: Feng Liang, Shi Lei, Ya Sheng
May 30, 1998
Blogposts

The Sixth Person
A full translation of the blog by Karma Samdrup’s wife, Dolkar Tso, about teacher Tashi Topgyal’s detention, posted on July 7 and entitled ‘The Sixth Person’ is enclosed below, translated into English by ICT.
The sixth person
Tashi Topgyal’s younger sister called for me, tears on her face. She’d received a call at dawn from her younger brother in Lhasa, saying that their elder brother Tashi Togyal, the simple and honest Tibetan-language teacher, had been taken away the previous night by several dozen police. Where is he now? No one knows. Is there a certificate of arrest? As per usual, no.
I was amazed as well as scared. The sixth person, Tashi Togyal has the same father but different mother as his younger brother Rinchen Dorje, who was doing his utmost to find the whereabouts of Rinchen Dorje, but now even his whereabouts are not known. Is there no end to the trickle down of this fear?
His younger brother said Tashi Topgyal was taken away last night [July 5, 2010], that many people came, and that they searched under his bed for something. His wife immediately said that whatever it was didn’t belong to the family, and that they had put it there to frame the family. Ten or more people continued searching the family home, and the family stood by helplessly as everything was turned over, but Tashi Topgyal was still taken away even though nothing else was found. Where was he taken? And for what reason? What is he facing? Is he too going to be tortured into confessing to fabricated charges?
As a woman in this family, I don’t want to be a cancer of menace and terror when I face all the old folks and children in the family – what will it bring us, what story is this going to give to the world.
Our daughter said: “It’s my birthday soon Mum, and Dad [Karma Samdrup] said this year that he’d be sure to go with me to buy a present, so make sure he comes back.“
Okay, let us say to the world, let your father and uncles come back soon.
Note: Tashi Topgyal]: The only young man in Zirong Village to have received an education and become a teacher, very honest and sincere, and who put enormous efforts into improving the local education environment. Please Buddha and the world, help us find him!
Praying
Blogpost entitled ‘Praying’ by Karma Samdrup’s wife, Dolkar Tso, published on June 23 about the trial of her husband. Translated into English by High Peaks Pure Earth, http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/06/praying-blogpost-by-dolkar-tso-wife-of.html
“Praying”
An Account of June 22, 2010


By Dolkar Tso
The hearing was adjourned, it was almost 11 o’clock at night. My husband turned his head, peeked into the court. They took him away in the other direction and shut the door, we were once more separated.
In the morning I had felt so distressed and hurt that I only felt extreme grief, from the afternoon till the evening I had felt anger from all that justice and injustice. Now, after having received numerous missed calls and many text messages asking for news, I just don’t know anymore what I feel.
Early in the morning, around 9:30 am, I saw a police vehicle, I guessed that he might be inside and when the people from inside the car were led out I almost missed him. Or rather, I just didn’t recognise him. How could his tall and upright body become thin and small? The body that passed me looked like one of a slim and fragile college student. 

Before we entered the court, I was already in tears. Relatives and friends didn’t speak a word, well, what was there to say?! Only when he stood there with his back to us, and started speaking, everyone’s sadness just poured out. We all rather closed our eyes, we didn’t want to look at this cold shadow, we just wanted to listen to this so very familiar voice – only this was really him, only this really managed to turn that poor fragile shadow into the person we remembered. 

I never thought his cheekbones could be this high, his chin so pointy, his arms so skinny, there’s nothing left of his pot-belly. And he even tells us that over the past 20 days he had already recovered quite a bit, he had started eating regularly and does not have to suffer any maltreatment anymore.
Then he paused for a while, “Today my friends and relatives are here, and there is probably a lot I shouldn’t say.” The account we heard afterwards exceeded our worst imaginations, we heard about hundreds of different cruel torture methods, maltreatment around the clock, hitherto unheard of torture instruments and drugs, hard and soft tactics, and even of fellow prisoners being grouped together to extract a confession. If he did not reveal certain details he would be mentally tormented. If he wanted to eat or go to the toilet he had to write an "IOU", an "IOU" which has already amounted to 660,000 RMB. The “purchased” food would first be crushed by people using their feet, there would be beatings for no reason, this was common and occurred too many times to count. He said in a sad voice that he had already prepared for death and he had written a letter to tell his relatives what to do. Two elderly interpreters had red eyes and started crying bitterly.
The lawyer also almost started crying. During the afternoon trial, the submission of evidence and translations was an endless process, endless but extraordinary. All of the evidence that was “temporarily put aside”, to my understanding, contained many loopholes and contradictions. Even the lawyers seemed to think that much was illegal in the procedures and they raised their doubts. It was just a pity that the panel discarded them as “unrelated to the respective issue” or said that “this has already been clarified”. Sitting in court were two lawyers and a defendant - three amazing people. Justice gives people an incomparable power, for a moment I didn’t think of all the disasters, I was entirely absorbed by this optimistic wisdom, surrounded by hearts of such warmth, I thought that my husband would also feel it. I clearly saw him turning his head and when he saw us his eyes were smiling. Or maybe we are fortunate people, fewer and fewer people receive such noble blessings. 

I really don’t know after this endless but extraordinary afternoon what will follow tomorrow. But we are all sure that our Karma Samdrup is no criminal, he is innocent, an unyielding and magnanimous person who can withstand any storm. We all know that he is not a criminal! As long as the court acts justly and fairly, he will certainly come back to us very soon. He will come back home and embrace his two daughters and also embrace freedom – this is the life, which he should live. Please listen to the prayer, which I, this rushed and weary, burdened but hopeful woman am saying. An effect presupposes a cause. May Buddha protect us.
“I am a firm believer in Karmic retribution!”
This piece by the Tibetan writer Woeser, translated into English by ICT, is a moving description of the trial and the impact it has had on Karma Samdrup’s family, and includes a stinging attack on the judges for their lack of morality and professional ethics.
Friday June 25, 2010
“I am a firm believer in Karmic retribution!” The third day of Karma’s trial, sentenced to 15 years.
Yesterday was the third day of Karma’s trial. Following all of the closing statements, Karma stood, bowed and thanked the court for giving him the opportunity to say a few words having originally thought he wouldn’t have such an opportunity; and he thanked the prison guards detaining him for their trouble. He then said, “When someone with jaundice looks at the snow mountains, they appear yellow, but the snow mountains will forever be white. Karmic retribution is likely, and I believe in Karmic retribution.” Whereupon he was scolded by the judge, and tears poured like rain down the faces of his friends and family.
Prior to his arrest, Karma was built like an ox and always had a loud and ready laugh although he spoke his words in rapid fire. Six months later today, his wife Dolkar’s heart broke – as did those of friends and family there – when he appeared in court. No one could believe that this haggard man standing before their eyes with the number 067 on the front of his yellow prison uniform with the bones of his spine clearly visible through the back was their relative Karma, who had only been gone six months!
He could barely hear out of his left ear and his eyesight was hazy, his memory poor and his speech was slow as though he’d been broken by the judges. He couldn’t remember where to start. What kind of drugs had they forced on him? He had been bleeding from his eyes and ears! How much had they tortured him? All to get him to confess to that dubious charge!
On the second day of the trial, Karma had remained calm. There was only one time when the judge denied that his confession had been extorted through torture and waving the ‘evidence’ in the air his mood became agitated and slapping his thigh he shouted “I don’t want to hear this stupid nonsense any more!” The second day of the trial didn’t finish until 1:00 in the morning on the 24th. During the long slow process, Lawyer Pu had to ask for recess to go to the repository for insulin injections – he has diabetes.
And just before Karma was taken away, he smiled slightly at the lawyer and said, “You must take care of your health.” Both of the lawyers said, “You have to take care of yourself.” Karma turned to look at this wife and his several friends and family and said, “Take care of your own affairs and don’t worry about me – no need to worry.” As he was taken away and as he was taken through the court, it was heartbreaking to see his eyes scanning around trying to see his friends and family.
Karmic retribution is as the mills of heaven slowly grinding and they grind exceedingly small; and it is as Karma’s name. “I am a firm believer in Karmic retribution,” he repeated again in Tibetan. The Tibetan translator in his sixties looked at the judge and the prosecutor and very deliberately emphasis translated it into Chinese. This elderly translator was not in good health and had to have a bottle of heart pills on the first two days. On the third day he had two bottles. “This is so unjust,” he angrily sighed.
The two lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang and Li Huiqing put everything into their work and fought according to the law, but their cultured brains were no match for these soldiers’ brawn, and the lawyers said these soldiers were more like bandits. During the closing argument, Lawyer Pu told the court, “Even though we have felt deeply humiliated during these two days of this trial, we have defended dignity all along.” Furthermore, the lawyers could see that “the sharp knife was already raised above his head, ready to fall in an instant.”
Sentenced to 15 years! This is the highest punishment that Yanqi Court could pass, and friends who witnessed the law being so bent said “how devoid of conscience this is, how blatant.” Karma immediately said he would definitely appeal. He was very calm and proud as they took him back to prison. His wife Dolkar angrily cried out, “Is there no justice!? What kind of society is this?! How can good people come to such a pass?! He’s done so much good for this country and society!”
A court police officer went over to stop her, and Dolkar said angrily, “Five people in our family have already been taken in, and even I’ve been taken in! Our two daughters have been taken away together!” The two lawyers started crying. Pu Zhiqiang, this big tall man, let out a wailing cry. He then gripped Dolkar’s hand and with tears streaming down his face said “Sorry, sorry.” But the ink on the sentencing document was already long dry.
Why was the lawyer apologizing?! The entire course of this three-day trial was a travesty of justice. The prosecution’s case was riddled with holes, with “evidence” that was “temporarily unavailable” declared as “legitimate and reliable,” while solid evidence for the defense and requests to cross-examine evidence were denied as “illegitimate.” Just who is it who’s trampling on the laws of this country? The facts of this three-day trial are now widely known and the truth is already out there. Shame on the judiciary! These puppet judges and “top ten” prosecutors, how do they have the face to go on living?
There is a saying: People do, heaven sees. There is a saying: People do, cause and effect sees. Wang Lixiong published a Tweet that said: “The reason why I regard Chinese judges to be the most shameless of people is because no other shameless people are as hypocritical as judges. Every single judge without conscience clearly knows true from false and straight from twisted and yet under the banner of law and justice these running dogs wag their tails at the bones their masters toss them.”
Wang Lixiong continued with another Tweet, “Yesterday, I read Pu Zhiqiang’s Tweet praising Yanqi Court and expressing his heartfelt thanks, later followed by seeing the court sentence Karma to 15 years in prison. I believe this was not Yanqi Court’s decision, and those judges were only enacting the earlier decision of a senior level. They absolve themselves by saying they have to eat, and then with peace of mind go and do things against the judges’ profession and humanity’s conscience.”
All good wishes to the executioners holding the golden rice bowl night and day; all good wishes to every single executioner holding the golden rice bowl night and day. In Tibet’s ancient “Shakya Maxims” it is said, “No matter how persuaded are those who are base, their base nature will not change for the better; no matter how one washes and cleans ash, the black will never turn white.”
And so what we must do is tell the world who is base, no matter how hypocritical, they are base people without conscience. Karma Samdrup is a pure white snow mountain, and you, you wicked judges who corrupt the law, you forever are black ash.
June 25, 2010. Written in haste. (With thanks to friends.)
Translations from ‘Heavenly Beads’ on Karma Samdrup and Rinchen Samdrup
Karma Samdrup’s story from ‘Heavenly Beads’
ICT includes a translation below of an extract from the book ‘Heavenly Beads’ by the Chinese journalist Liu Jianqiang (Tibet People’s Publishing House, 2010) about Karma Samdrup. The title of the book refers to a very specific and highly prized form of agate found in Tibet called dzi (Chinese: tianzhu), and which Karma Samdrup, nicknamed ‘The King of Dzi,’ specialized in trading. Describing the lives and achievements of 10 key Tibetan figures in the nascent environmental movement in Tibet, the book was extremely well-received by general readers and various academics and journalists alike across China. Yang Ruichun, managing editor of the semi-official online news portal China News Weekly (www.chinanews.com.cn) is among the book’s reviewers quoted in its inside pages: “Discovering material in this book is for the reader like ‘The King of Dzi’ discovering a fine dzi – one has the same feelings of inner satisfaction. There is a surging history behind the characters in this book. It is a modern history of the Tibetan people, and it is a history of the Tibetan people’s search for their own soul.” However, according to the Berkeley, California-based China Digital Times which monitors political and social transitions in China, the book was banned by the Chinese authorities on June 24 – the day Karma Samdrup’s trial concluded, and soon before Rinchen Samdrup went on trial. (http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/07/latest-directives-from-the-ministry-of-truth-june-18-july-6-2010/)
This extract from the book covers the period in 1998 when Karma Samdrup was initially detained in Xinjiang. It is a revealing account of Karma Samdrup’s treatment in detention, and his resilience and character.
There’s a place in Urumchi called “Erdaoqiao” where there’s a lot of antique shops and art shops, a lot like the Barkhor in Lhasa. The first time I went, I got to know the shop-owner Abliz [who is named in the sentencing document] and bought quite a few old silver coins from him. I later learned that most of them were fake and I went back and shouted at him. Later though, I bought a carpet from him – his shop was full of stuff, but when I think about it now, 95% of it was fake. The carpet was genuine though, this I was sure about.
In the end I bought a pile of things for more that 80,000 kuai, including a wooden vessel, a carpet, silks, most of which had the characteristics of Zhang Zhung culture – I was very happy with it all. [Zhang Zhung is an ancient Tibetan kingdom and culture that predates the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet.] When I bought it, I said to him: “I have a collector’s permit [shouzang zheng] and don’t want to break any laws when I buy things. Are you sure that all of these things were legally obtained? If they were illegally obtained you’ll likely end up in court.”
“No problem!” he said. “All of this was picked up in the Gobi desert – you can pick up whatever’s there. How can that be illegal? I’ve been in business here for 20 years, in legal business – take a look at my trader’s permit.” And sure enough there was a formal trader’s permit certificate hanging on his wall.
My favorite piece was the large carpet with Tibetan-style patterns, but it was in very poor condition. I chose a remnant about the size of a handkerchief, a few pieces of silk, some woven pieces and a wooden piece, six items in all that I wanted to take to Beijing to have evaluated and looked into. I left a few other things that were more valuable with him, never imagining that he’d later tell me the things left piled up in his garage were all stolen. I suspect he sold things to other people, but there’s no way to be sure of that.
I didn’t know they were grave robbers until after the police had detained me – five people in total: Abliz and two others stored the things they stole from the tomb, and then two other robbers who were set up. Those two people were very angry and reported to the police. The police didn’t detain me until Albliz told them I had bought the things.
When I went to Xining to see Zhenga, one of the five people who was yet to be detained gave me a call, and said “Don’t go to Xinjiang, the police are investigating what happened.”
So let them investigate it! What’s it got to do with me? Ha ha! I was so stupid back then.
Then Abliz gave me a call, which was actually the police trying to get him to lure me in. He said, “Karma, come to Xinjiang straight away and bring 3 million – there’s a lot of good stuff here, several car-loads.”
Something wasn’t right, I was uncomfortable. Why would he want me to bring 3 million? It was as though he wanted to con me. Then I had a bad dream that night where I was bitten by a dog.
In the article it says that he called me to say that he had the “beautiful coffin” and the “complete mummified remains” I wanted, and that he asked me to hurry to Urumchi to get the goods and give him the money – that’s utterly ridiculous. I knew nothing about any coffin or mummy. It also said in the article that I had an ID with the Han name Li Wenbang on it – even more ridiculous. Look at me – my ponytail, wearing a Tibetan chuba, barely able to speak Chinese, and I say my name is Li Wenbang? Would you believe me? It has always been “Karma Samdrup” on my ID card, the only difference now is that back then it didn’t have the clan name “Ruka.”
When I went to Chengdu I had another call from a friend, saying “Whatever you do, don’t go to Xinjiang!” But I didn’t listen to him because I hadn’t broken any laws! What was there to be afraid of? And furthermore, the Urumchi Tannery had my business and they were waiting for me.
I took around 400,000 with me and took a plane to Urumchi but when I got there, there were dozens of police and journalists waiting for me, the main culprit in “Xinjiang’s biggest case.” For about 10 days afterwards, the news in the papers was all about me – ha ha ha.
It said in the article that I was carrying a “combination-locked case,” but that’s also not correct. I was just carrying a small bag. When I came out of the airport, I look around to see if anyone was really going to grab me, but there was nothing doing and I couldn’t see any police. A woman taxi driver came up to me and took my bag, wanting me to get into her car. I followed her, but before getting to the car lots of people rushed me from all directions and grabbed my head, my hands, my feet – my feet were off the ground and I thought I was being robbed. There were three people holding my right hand, but I pulled it free for a moment and was getting ready to fight back when they pulled out a gun. Ah. It’s the police.
They put handcuffs on me and were “click click click” taking my picture with flashes going off constantly so brightly that I couldn’t open my eyes. The photograph in the magazine was taken then.
After they threw me into a four-wheel drive, three people had a hold of my head and two had a hold of my feet. I knew they were police and not thieves, that my life wasn’t in danger, and so I wasn’t that scared. As they held onto me I kept saying loudly “Tara, you must look upon this! Tara, bless me and protect me!”
The car drove for a long time, and probably after an hour or so it stopped and outside I heard the creaking sound of a detention center gate opening. This detention center is for serious criminals.
They found my money and they were thrilled. Why wouldn’t they be? The were rich. They took photographs, they took video, and then they interrogated me. I said I’d only bought the carpet and that I was going to Beijing to sell it. They said, “You have a good attitude. Tomorrow you’ll give a more detailed account.”
And so the next day they started beating me. They beat me every day for 18 days. They had so many different ways of beating me: sometimes they bent me all the way forward and beat me about the waist. Sometimes they’d make me stand cross-legged so I was unsteady on my feet and then beat me. Sometimes I had to stand with my face pressed to the wall with my feet splayed out sideways and against the wall. You should try it. It gets absolutely unbearable, and when it got unbearable they’d beat me. They were so clever. They’ve thought of so many ways to hurt people.
The more they beat me the more angry I became and the more I refused to speak. If they didn’t beat me, who’s to say I wouldn’t have said anything. They pulled at my hair and held scissors to my head: “Are you going to talk or not? If you don’t talk your hair gets cut off!” They threatened me this way four times. They could cut off my head but they couldn’t cut off my hair. Tibetans traditionally grow their hair long, and so many had their hair cut off in the Cultural Revolution. I’d grown my hair long because of my mother and grandmother, and from the first time I went to Lhasa, and aside from the time in Xining when I got in a fight and a cut a few locks off I have always grown my hair.
I said, “Why would you cut my hair if I’ve committed a crime? Why don’t you just shoot me?”
By the ninth day of beatings I wasn’t saying anything and there was nothing they could do. They brought in Abliz, and he shouted at me “I’m begging you, give them back the stuff!”
I shouted back, “Fuck you, I don’t know you! What have I got?”
Not saying anything was also for his good too. It’s in the Khampa’s character that if there’s a grudge between two people, you never sell someone out at a crucial moment.
The policeman said, “You know you broke the law?”
“I didn’t break the law.”
“What do you mean you didn’t break the law? Someone steals some stuff, you buy it, and that’s not breaking the law?”
“I bought it from his shop! If he’s selling things illegally why did you approve his shop?”
“If you didn’t know those things were illegal, why did you pay so much for them? Here’s a cigarette for 80,000. Do you want it?”
“I’m a collector, so aren’t you and I doing the same thing? Both protecting cultural artifacts, for which I have a collectors permit.”
“It’s all the state’s stuff!”
“But I’m Chinese! Are you saying Chinese people can’t protect their own state’s things?”
His head was spinning. He couldn’t argue with me so he just beat me.
Actually, I hadn’t taken away the more valuable things that Abliz had sold me, and had first taken those six things – the carpet fragments and silk pieces – which weren’t worth much because I wanted to have them looked at. They certainly weren’t cultural artifacts. A friend brought the things back and the police were very happy. They got ready to take pictures and take video, but as soon as they opened the bag I could see the disappointment in their expressions – just these few things for such a major case? A policeman asked me, “This is all there is?”
I said: “Yeah.”
I saw a policeman silently shaking his head.
They brought in Abliz to have a look and he acknowledged that these were the things he’d sold me. This was a tragedy for the police. In the media they’d boasted ferociously about how I was the main culprit who had got his hands on “national treasures,” but where were these “national treasures” I was meant to have? They were utterly worthless. And from then on the officers’ attitudes softened, and they’d say to me every day things like, “Karma, do you need a shower?”
A friend came to see me and left me a few thousand kuai, but he left it with the police and so I couldn’t get it. Because this was in no way a major case, the police weren’t getting any funding from above and had to had to ask me for money every day for food. When all three were together they were too embarrassed to ask, but after an interrogation when two of the officers would leave, the remaining policeman would say to me, “Karma, we don’t have any money for food. It’s a little embarrassing, but can you sign a chit for us?” So I wrote, “Withdraw 500 kuai. Signed, Karma.” They’d take 500 out of my account, give me 200 and keep 300 for themselves. They did business like this with me fairly frequently, with the most at once being 600 kuai.
There was a period of time later when two people separately took me out for interrogation as though they were afraid someone would see them. Both times, they were speaking about this and that and I really didn’t know what was going on, but in the end they nervously put out their hands and rubbed their thumb and forefinger together – and then of course it struck me, it turned out they wanted money, and a large amount of money at that. One of them pointed at his chest and said, “If you don’t give me the money then you’re going to stay in here until your beard grows down to here.”
Of course, I didn’t give it to him, but they sent someone else to try and persuade me, who said: “You’re so stupid, he was trying to give you a way out of here and you didn’t take it.”
And so I didn’t get out. I didn’t want to do anything dirty.
Of the 28 days I spent in Urumchi, they beat me for 18 days. When they’d finish beating me I was taken back to my cell where I read Chinese newspapers. One of my cell-mates was from Sichuan, and he’d read a passage that I’d then repeat. The papers had been brought in by the cell-mates. They’d wrap the papers in string then toss them from one cell to another, sometimes having to toss them dozens of times before getting them in. Once I’d read them I passed them on to someone else. Oh, those papers were so good to read. I could study Chinese, which was such a valuable opportunity.
I don’t have the slightest hatred for the police officers who beat me. They thought it was very strange that this person could be beaten so badly, but then laugh as he washed his hands and tended his wounds, and even study Chinese – was he crazy?
My Chinese improved greatly during that time.
After 28 days, they took me out and said, “You can go.” Thinking they were releasing me, I was delighted and gave all of my leftover money to my cell-mates. This had been a miserable time, but later I almost starved to death. They then took me to Korla detention center for another 15 days. The police there didn’t beat me, but the other detainees beat me. People were beaten in a lot of the cells. If someone said, “I want to listen to the radio,” they’d be beaten and scream with pain. If the number one criminal said, “Well I want to watch television,” then the first guy would be beaten even more severely.
When the policemen put me into the cell they said to the number one in there, “You can teach this one a good lesson.”
All of the seven people in this cell were petty thieves, swindlers and smugglers. I knew they wanted to bully me, and so I puffed out my chest when I walked in and returned all of their stares as I stretched out my arms and legs as though I was really tough, and they were scared. I heard a little voice from among them saying “Has he been sent by the cops?” They were all a little unsure.
They made me sweep, wash out the slop bucket and tidy their sleeping area. They all bunched together on the kang so I had to sleep on the floor. The swindler was the number one. He had me learn the prison regulation by heart – “If you don’t learn them you’ll get a beating.”
I conscientiously stood by wall learning the regulations, but I didn’t know many Chinese characters and they didn’t know any Tibetan so I just couldn’t memorize them. And so they shouted at me constantly, but it was all slang and I didn’t understand. The swindler said, “This one’s disobedient. You lot get to work.”
“Stand up straight!” one of them shouted then rushed at me and kicked me in the waist. They were about to beat me really badly and I was terrified, so I put my fists up and fought back. Five of them surrounded me and grabbed my arms – there were a lot of them but they were weak. I brawled with them, fighting then retreating, and retreated back into the latrines where I picked up a brick and smashed it down on someone, breaking the brick in half – one half was in my hand the other was on the floor. The person I’d hit was lying on the ground and crying out in pain. I was afraid they were going to get the half brick and come at me with it, and so I hurriedly picked it up and with one half in each hand I chased after them, raining blows everywhere. They were afraid of my bricks and tried to cower anywhere they could but the cell was small and there was nowhere for them to run. I was standing in the middle of the cell with the bricks in my hand and they were running in circles around me like a vortex.
I was afraid they’d try and get their revenge when I was asleep, and so I didn’t dare ever go into a real sleep, and instead dozed with the bricks in my hands. And actually, my stomach was rumbling so much from hunger that I couldn’t sleep anyway. At first in the detention center in Urumchi, although the food wasn’t good you could at least eat your fill. In Korla, there was only porridge as thin as water and one piece of steamed bread per day, so my stomach was constantly rumbling. One day I heard a cuckoo’s call and it reminded me of my grandmother who had passed away and it reminded me of my mother, and I wondered why my life had become such a tragedy – but only for a moment. Other times, I recited the scriptures.
The detention center later transferred me to another cell, and the people there were completely different to those in the first cell. Among them was a young man who had just got married and spent 600 kuai on a video player without realizing it had been stolen. The police said he was concealing stolen goods and sentenced him to 18 months. There was a handicapped guy whose hands and feet were all twisted and who was only 16 years old. He’d gone to the train station to see off his sister when the police put a bag down in front of him. It was empty when he picked it up but when the police got him, they said there was a 2000-kuai camera in there and sentenced him to 18 months. He was still a student and had never stolen a thing in his life. But this is how police fulfill their mission to catch thieves.
A friend and the Tibet Foundation dispatched a lawyer, and the lawyer looked over the files and said the police had acted completely illegally and that he was going to take them to court. One of the unit leaders there, who had an education and was a little more reasonable and who had interrogated me twice and knew I wasn’t guilty, said to the others, “If he hasn’t done anything then he hasn’t done anything – hurry up and let him go. He’s already been in detention too long.”
The friend put down a bond of 40,000 for me, and I left. The detention center told me that my problem would be handled within six months and that I might be called in at any time.
But they never called me again, and in fact it was me who constantly called them, trying to get that 400,000 back, but they never returned it. I went to Xinjiang 11 times, but all I ever got back was a chain and a Dzi. They threatened my by saying, “If you come again asking for money, we’ll do you for concealing stolen goods.”
Seven months later, a friend from Tibet accompanied me to Xinjiang. He called on the public security leader and said: “You were completely illegal, if you don’t take care of this immediately we’re going to take you to court.”
This leader was very nervous and called his underlings telling them to take of this straight away.
A low ranking policeman tried to fool me, saying: “If you admit to a crime, this is easy to resolve. If you haven’t committed the slightest crime, how are we supposed to handle this?”
I said, “I don’t know what the crime was. You lot help me choose.”
Eleven days later, and my friend and the police were still talking. The police were vexed and had decided to continue to detain me. I didn’t understand what they were saying but my friend told me in Tibetan, “Karma, what they’re saying doesn’t sound good, you should prepare yourself.” I didn’t understand and I didn’t care.
When I went to the toilet a call came in from a friend from home who was in Lhasa and who said, “Karma, Dhondup Wangmo is seriously ill and the hospital wants a 2000 kuai deposit for her – what shall we do?”
Dhondup Wangmo was a woman from home. I’d financially helped several old people from home and she was one of them. I said “I’ll post the money to you tomorrow for her to go to hospital.”
But when I got back to the office I was detained again, this time for a week. They interrogated me every day, wanting me to confess to a crime. I was furious.
They said if I didn’t confess I’d get several years re-education through labor. “We have the authority to send you to re-education through labor. We don’t have to go through the courts or the procuracy,” they said.
“Let’s see you do it then,” I said.
But this time I had money, I had 7000 kuai with me, and so my clothes and daily essentials were all the best – I had prepared myself to be locked up. Me and my cell-mates had mutton kebabs and platters of spicy chicken every day.
After a week, they had to let me go and made me sign a guarantee that I wouldn’t sue. I wrote in Tibetan: “If you justly resolve this problem, I will not sue.”
He was livid. He tore up the piece of paper and made me write it again. I wrote it out differently, but the meaning was the same: “If guilt and innocence are handled justly, I will not sue.” He took the piece of paper and told me to leave straight away. “You need to swear an oath – swear to this lama that you will not sue.” The lama was the one they had asked to come and be a translator – these police knew the value of a Tibetan’s vow.
Not guilty, I was released and the 40,000 bond was repaid, but that 400,000 never came back to me.
Sitting in prison was the best education for me. The two greatest things to have influenced me in this lifetime are one, Buddhism, and two, spending this time in prison.
When I was inside I thought about Gendun Chophel. Gendun Chophel had wanted to reform the old Tibet, but was imprisoned by the old Tibetan government. He wrote, “Even though I suffered extreme hardships in prison, I thought about the face of truth, I thought about how I myself am completely innocent, and about how my soul is forever full of deep joy.” That was how a great person got through such privation with such optimism, and so what did it amount to that someone as minor as me should have suffered so little? This is how I think of it: no matter how hard things may get, one must learn from him.
I remembered when I was young carving mani stones in that cave with the “Chairman Mao Lama,” how awful his life had been but he was still grateful to Chairman Mao. I could never attain a thousandth of what he practiced, but our Tibetan education and culture leads us to see situations with a Buddhist viewpoint: this is cause and effect, I am in prison, this is an effect from the last life or from this life, so do not blame others. It is as my grandfather frequently said, “Whatever causes you may sow, so the effects shall be; wherever you may walk, your shadow will always follow.”
Prison made me reflect on my actions. I thought about this every day. What have I done wrong in this life? When were the times that I crossed someone? At first I was really pleased because I’d just never been unconscionable. I had always acted in accordance with the guidance of Buddha’s laws and never hurt anyone, and in business I’d always give you 55, give me 45 and absolutely never dared give me 51, give you 49. I never dared tell lies for fear of becoming base. It wouldn’t matter how many scriptures you read or how you prayed to the Buddha, these kinds of moral demands are hundreds of times stricter than law.
So when the police interrogated me and asked “Have you ever broken the law?” I’d say “No.” Yes, I hadn’t broken the Buddha’s laws, and that was exactly right. But when I was in prison I slowly came to realize that even though I hadn’t broken Buddha’s laws, there were some things that I shouldn’t have done such as collecting all of those coins. One minute the state said it was illegal, the next it said it was legitimate. For example, a piece of carpet and items of furniture with a history of a hundred years or so could be openly traded on the market at times then at other times it became illegal, but I’d done a lot of trading. I’d also bought a lot of statues of the Buddha, some of which I’d bought for two kuai five per kilo. And then buying and selling all of those US dollars wasn’t exactly a business from the scriptures.
And so looking at oneself from the demands of Buddhist morality, some of my actions were inappropriate: perhaps it was the Khampa’s stubborn character but I didn’t tell them anything, neither did I “serve anyone up” to them. I said I’d being doing business ever since I was young, that I’d always worked on my own and had never had any connections with anyone else. They swore at me, saying I was like a rock in a latrine, as hard and as foul-smelling.
At the time, I hadn’t broken any law, but in reality I had been on the edge of breaking a law. If I hadn’t gone to the detention center and carried on as I had been, who’s to say I wouldn’t have ended up committing a major crime and spending the rest of my life in prison.
I don’t hate those police officers. If anything I’m grateful to them. I later really wanted to go and see them again, truly want to go and see them. And later, some of them asked me for favors, putting their children through school, that kind of thing, and I helped them.
When I was inside, I constantly thought I have to make the most of this opportunity to study. If I was to be kept inside I’d practice the whole time, but sadly there was no lama to initiate me. My greatest gain was the Chinese language. If I could have been there for six months my Chinese would have been perfect. Why did I want to study? Because as soon as I’d learned the importance of culture, I had to suffer the lack of having no culture, and I didn’t understand the law. Tibetans have very high moral standards, but at times like this it wasn’t enough to have morals, it was also necessary to understand modern law.
The disaster of being in the detention center made me realize what society is. I even felt that if I wanted to become a great person then I needed the experience of being in prison, otherwise you don’t know what this world is like. On the third day I was in the detention center, three people were executed there. Some convicts were sentenced to life imprisonment, some were sentenced to 20 years. There were all kinds of bad people inside, and there were also youths who had been unjustly convicted, and cripples who’d been the victims of entrapment. There were also different kinds of public security personnel inside. But you weren’t inside, so how can you know what this society is like? When you see people on television being handcuffed, you don’t feel it but you can live with those people, you are able to experience what it feels like. When you bite into an apple, you know for yourself whether it’s sweet or sour.
Before going to the detention center my thinking hadn’t opened up. When I got inside, all the Buddhist scriptures I’d read before were explained to me in an instant. I’d had no experiences, and so no matter how they were explained to me I didn’t understand them. Now I can smell their scent. I can see their form.
It’s like a set of scales there, weighing people’s lives. Tibetans have a saying, “That person is so light,” meaning that the person indicated has no substance or weight. Everyone who goes into a detention center has to reconsider whether they themselves have enough weight or not.
I never understood why Buddhism teaches us that society is so sad and dirty. It was only when I came out of there that I understood what sadness and dirt are; I saw society clearly, and I saw that it is as sad and dirty as prison.
When I do business I’m never afraid of making a loss, because I believe I can turn a profit. And I’m the biggest businessman in Tibetan areas, which seems amazing. But inside, I was nothing. I was the same as those swindlers, those murderers and petty thieves. People beat me, swore at me, and I had to take it. This made me reconsider who I am, who I should be, what is the purpose of my life.
I thought so much. I thought in these 10 years past I always wanted to be in business, to make a lot of money – 100,000 wasn’t enough, and so I wanted to earn 200,000. I always wanted to buy a nice car, build a big house, but the higher my aspirations went the further away from the requirements of Buddhism I went. It wasn’t until I saw all those people suffering in prison that I thought I wanted to live a quiet life outside. I was so fortunate in the beginning, but we have so much avarice and we’re never satisfied. Actually, it only takes a little love to help those tragic people as much as we can, but we put far more effort into satisfying our own avarice. When I saw the true society, I thought if I ever get out safe and alive, what kind of person am I going to be? What can I help other people to do?
I went back to Lhasa when I got out of the detention center, and learned that the old woman Dhondup Wangmo had died. When I was detained I couldn’t send her any money. She couldn’t get into the hospital and had quickly died – she was no more than 50 years old. This is the biggest regret of my life. In these 10 years I’ve often thought with bitter sadness of the scene as she was about to die: there was no one to help her, such a sad and lonely death. If others could have helped her, if I wasn’t chasing the police for money, I would have had the chance to send her some money and maybe she’d be alive and happy today.
I suddenly lost all interest in business and didn’t want the money held by the police anymore, and I wasn’t concerned about the leather jacket business worth 700,000. I’d suddenly changed. I had no interest in business or money, I had no aspirations. I thought, I should do some good for society in accordance with the teachings of Buddhism. If I carried on with business and did nothing for society, then what would differentiate me from the animals? How would my worth show itself? The education received by most Tibetans tells them to first be moral, and I am no exception. From then on, I didn’t want anything else to do with the worldly, and my own affairs were too minor. My experiences in the detention center let me see that there are so many people suffering in the world, and I wanted to do something for them. It was only then that I understood the words my grandmother told me as she took my hand when I left home for the first time to go to Lhasa: “You cannot rely upon wealth, all that can be relied upon is the Lord Buddha.”
Rinchen Samdrup, ‘protector of the environment’: a Chinese journalist’s perspective
The Chinese journalist's article published in the official press and translated below details Rinchen Samdrup's work in organizing villagers from his home area to protect and revitalize their local environment. Rinchen Samdrup is praised for being a "protector of the environment" who "exudes the pure tranquility of an intellectual." The article, which appears on the Chinese Ministry of the Environment's website, is dated February 3 - around five months after Rinchen Samdrup was detained and imprisoned in August, 2009. Shorter versions of the same article appeared a month or so earlier in People's Daily and ChinaTibetNews websites. It is not known whether Rinchen Samdrup's arrest was known at the time by officials who posted the article, or whether this indicates a difference in perceptions of the case in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Beijing.
The article is translated into English by ICT at: http://savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/award-winning-tibetan-environmentalist-trial-today. The extract below recounts a story in which official approval of Rinchen Samdrup’s grassroots work was evident, as well as his role as a bridge between the local community and senior environmentalists and officials:
Allow me to quickly step into a time machine and go back to a day in late November 2005. In a large room on the roof of a hotel the ‘Mount Kailash, Lake Mansarovar and Protected Land Management Seminar’ is being held. The Chinese Academy of Science academician and Dean of Beijing University Xu Zhihong is meeting with people including the internationally famous wildlife protection specialist George Schaller, the famous environmental protection expert and Beijing University Professor Li Zhi, and the famous civil environmental protection personage and Executive Deputy Secretary General of the Three River Sources Environmental Protection Association, Hashu Tashi Dorjee.
Rinchen Samdrup is sitting in the audience and doesn't understand Chinese too well, but he's holding up his mobile phone as though it's a tape recorder, trying hard to catch the speeches of all the important people at the meeting.
His mobile phone is performing the unique function of providing a live, on-the-spot broadcast.
He wants to broadcast all of the voices from meeting directly from his mobile phone to his hometown, to his house. Gathered in his home are all the people who were able to make it and they are all assembled around a landline phone with the speaker-phone activated so the words from a mobile phone hundreds of kilometers away can come to them via their phone.
‘Rinchen Samdrup, don't hang up, let us hear what people at the meeting are saying,’ said Sonam Chophel, a friend from his village and a member of the association.
“But you're the same as me - you don't understand Chinese," said Rinchen Samdrup.
"Don't worry about it, just don't hang up," the villager said. They lean closer to the phone. This is a rare opportunity for them to be in touch with the outside world. Every time they hear laughter in the meeting room the villagers urgently ask Rinchen Samdrup, "What are they laughing about? Is it anything to do with us?"
Rinchen Samdrup is wearing a Tibetan chuba and sitting in the front row at the meeting staring intently at the face of the Dean of Beijing University, Xu Zhihong. This peasant from the great mountains of Gonjo County in Tibet has never spent a day at school, but now he hopes to be able to guess what Xu Zhihong is saying from watching his face.
Xu Zhihong is an authoritative expert in the field of life sciences, and he says that southwest China's animal and plant diversity and cultural diversity are extremely rich, but also extremely delicate. Protection for this area has come more and more to the attention of the government. Many grass-roots cadres and ordinary people in the community have invested themselves in environmental protection activities, and this is an important foundation for environmental protection that should be supported by all circles of society. At the same time, the local people must be a solid force for environmental protection.
Xu Zhihong lamented in his speech, ‘All land is holy mountains and holy lakes," "every living thing and non-living thing is worthy of respect.’ In his speech he was full of admiration for the voluntary environmental protection model of Rinchen Samdrup and all the other villagers. He even said the "communal management" model represented by the "holy mountains and holy lakes" and the "protection associations" should be encouraged in legislation.
Hashu Tashi Dorjee stood next to Rinchen Samdrup and hearing these important words shouted a translation from one phone through to the other. Rinchen Samdrup paid more than 300 yuan on his phone bill to make this ‘live broadcast’ happen.”
Chime Namgyal’s Re-Education Through Labor sentencing document
Chime Namgyal (Chinese transliteration: Jimei Langjia), the youngest brother of Rinchen and Karma Samdrup, is serving one year and nine months re-education through labor for “endangering state security” and is due to be released on July 13, 2011 after having already served 30 days in detention while awaiting trial. According to a copy of Chime Namgyal's sentencing document obtained by ICT, the authorities stated that compiling audio-visual materials on ecology was part of the reason for his administrative detention, stating that he "assisted and coordinated with his elder brother Renqing Sangzhu [Rinchen Samdrup] in illegally compiling three discs of audio-visual materials on the ecology, environment, natural resources and religion of Chamdo Prefecture; he illegally possessed reactionary propaganda materials from the Dalai clique abroad; he supplied photographs and material for the illegal publication 'Forbidden Mountain, Prohibited Hunting.'"
A full translation from Chinese into English by ICT follows below.
Changdu Prefecture Re-Education Through Labor Management Committee
Re-Education Through Labor Decision
Chamdo RTL [2009] No. 15
Jimei Langjia, male, born December 21, 1971, Tibetan, middle-school education (reads Tibetan), ID No. 542123197112210252. Address: Maidong Village, Xiangpi Township, Gongjue County, Changdu Prefecture, Tibet.
Facts and evidence of illegality:
Following submission of the investigative work unit’s report, it is ascertained: Jimei Langjia assisted and coordinated with his elder brother Renqing Sangzhu [Rinchen Samdrup] in illegally compiling three discs of audio-visual materials on the ecology, environment, natural resources and religion of Changdu Prefecture; he illegally possessed reactionary propaganda materials from the Dalai clique abroad; he supplied photographs and material for the illegal publication “Forbidden Mountain, Prohibited Hunting”; and in 2003, Jimei Langjia in contravention of the law assisted Renqing Sangzhu to apply to and register with the relevant authorities the illegal establishment of “The Kham Regional Anjiong Sen’ge Nanzhong Ecological and Environmental Protection Voluntary Association.” Using the illegal organization “The Kham Regional Anjiong Sen’ge Nanzhong Ecological and Environmental Protection Voluntary Association” as a platform, he then on numerous occasions organized local masses to submit irregular petitions, seriously disrupting local government authority and Party work. Jimei Langjia played a key oversight and controlling role in this association, and during periods when Renqing Sangzhu was not there, Jimei Langjia took responsibility for the association’s daily operations, and was one of the main members of this organization. Having been poisoned and bewitched by Jimei Langjia etc, membership of this association is at present over 1700 people. Since establishment of this “association,” Jimei Langjia and his brother have used it as a platform, and using the power of his family illegally controlled the masses and gathered forces to run roughshod throughout the Zirong area, interfering with administrative and judicial work and even opposing the government, seriously disrupting the normal government and Party committee work at all levels of the central government, the autonomous region, the prefecture and Gongjue County, impacting upon policy work of leaders at all levels, and creating a relatively serious impact upon the social and political stability of Changdu Prefecture, and even the entire region.
Following deliberations by this committee and the establishment of a collegiate panel in accordance with the law, it was decided to hear a case against Jimei Langjia for the actions of endangering state security. The hearing showed that: Jimei Langjia assisted and coordinated with his elder brother Renqing Sangzhu in illegally compiling three discs of audio-visual materials on the ecology, environment, natural resources and religion of Changdu Prefecture; he illegally possessed reactionary propaganda materials from the Dalai clique abroad; he supplied photographs and material for the illegal publication “Forbidden Mountain, Prohibited Hunting”; and in 2003, Jimei Langjia in contravention of the law assisted Renqing Sangzhu to apply to and register with the relevant authorities the illegal establishment of “The Kham Regional Anjiong Sen’ge Nanzhong Ecological and Environmental Protection Voluntary Association.” Using the illegal organization “The Kham Regional Anjiong Sen’ge Nanzhong Ecological and Environmental Protection Voluntary Association” as a platform, he then on numerous occasions organized local masses to submit irregular petitions, seriously disrupting local government authority and Party work, constituting an actual danger to upholding local stability.
Material evidence for the above facts is the suspect Jimei Langjia’s confession, Renqing Sangzhu’s confession, the testimony of other witnesses, certificates of evaluation, video materials, handwritten notes and computers, portable hard drives, USB drives and video cassettes and video discs, and photographs of the Panchen recognized abroad and by the Dalai clique, which is adopted as evidence according to law.
This committee considers that in the case of Jimei Langjia carrying out actions endangering state security, the facts are clear and the evidence is reliable and ample. In accordance with the provisions of Article 10, Clause 1 of the “Re-Education Through Labor Experimental Measures,” it is decided to commit Jimei Langjia to one year and nine months re-education through labor. Prior to the re-education through labor decision, the person committed to re-education through labor served criminal detention (30 days), and for each day of detention served, one day less of re-education through labor is to be served. The term of re-education through labor is therefore limited from November 14, 2009 until July 13, 2011.
If this decision is contested, an administrative review by Changdu Prefecture administrative offices or the TAR Re-Education Through Labor Management Committee may be applied for within 60 days of receipt of this decision notice; or re-examination by Changdu Prefecture Administration Offices Re-Education Through Labor Management Committee can be applied for within 15 days of receipt of this decision notice; or an administrative appeal can be filed with Changdu County People’s Court within three months of receipt of this decision notice.
Changdu Prefecture Administration Offices
Re-Education Through Labor Management Committee
November 13, 2009
[Seal: Changdu Re-Education Through Labor Committee, Tibet]
Publicado por el
Etiquetas:

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario

Suscribirse a: Enviar comentarios (Atom)